The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), effective December...more
The Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Andrew Forman, recently spoke to the American Bar Association’s Mergers and Acquisitions Committee at the Business Law...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is authorized, pursuant to section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (the “Act”), to address “unfair methods of competition.”...more
On September 30, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) obtained civil monetary penalties in the amount of $263,000 from San Juan IPA, Inc. (“San Juan”), an independent physician association operating in northwestern New...more
On September 22, 2022, Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) delivered a speech entitled “Returning to Fairness,” challenging basic tenets of antitrust law and current enforcement....more
On September 20, 2022, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights on “Oversight of the Enforcement...more
On August 15, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the FTC Policy Perspectives and Certificates of Public Advantage staff policy paper, along with a fact sheet....more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently recognized the first anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (EO) and “celebrated the Antitrust Division’s most...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) are actively considering ways to “modernize” and strengthen their merger enforcement guidelines....more
When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) makes a determination to challenge a hospital transaction, the FTC first seeks injunctive relief from the relevant federal district court, requesting that the court prohibit the...more
The American Hospital Association (AHA), on behalf of its nearly 5,000 members and clinician partners, recently responded to the federal antitrust agencies’ request for comments to help inform the agencies’ efforts to...more
As part of their initiative to reevaluate both the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines (collectively, “Merger Guidelines”), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of...more
Parties to a transaction subject to the reporting requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) must adhere to a statutory waiting period (30 days for most transactions) after filing their...more
Adjustments to the reporting thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements (HSR) Act of 1976 are in effect as of February 23, 2022....more
Hospital transactions, including acquisitions and mergers, that meet Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) thresholds must, subject to any available exception, be reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reimplemented a policy of requiring all merger enforcement orders to include the requirement that acquisitive firms obtain prior approval from the FTC before closing any future...more
On September 28, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a blog post announcing several changes to how the FTC will investigate mergers and acquisitions and how it will approach second-request negotiations. The blog...more
Chair Khan’s Priorities -
In a memo dated September 22, 2021, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), Lina Khan, described for the FTC Staff and fellow Commissioners what she described as her “vision and...more
On September 15, 2021, by a 3-2 vote, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) decided to withdraw the vertical merger guidelines that had been issued in 2020. In its statement supporting the withdrawal, the majority raised...more
Prior to 1995, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) required parties to a Commission Order entered in a merger case to obtain the FTC’s prior approval for any future transaction in similar markets above a de minimis...more
On June 15, 2021, in a 69–28 vote, the Senate confirmed Lina Khan to fill the current vacancy at the Commissioner level of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). Immediately upon her confirmation, President Biden tapped Ms....more
On May 19, 2021, the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights of the Committee of the Judiciary held a hearing on Antitrust Applied: Hospital Consolidation Concerns and Solutions. The...more
The Multilateral Pharmaceutical Merger Task Force, a working group formed by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, State Attorneys General, and counterpart enforcement...more
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced new reporting thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“Act”). The new thresholds became effective on March 4, 2021. Unlike previous years, this...more
Section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. § 18) prohibits mergers and acquisitions where “the effect may be substantially to lessen competition, or tend to create a monopoly.” Although drafted in part to address potential...more