The Antitrust Agencies Issue New Merger Guidelines: Implications for Health Care Provider Transactions
This Feature Article is brought to you by AHLA's Antitrust Practice Group.
- May 01, 2024
- Ken Field , Hogan Lovells
- Jonathan Elsasser , Hogan Lovells
- Ashley Ifeadike , Hogan Lovells
Transactions involving health care providers face greater antitrust scrutiny from federal and state regulators than ever before. On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) (Agencies) published new federal Merger Guidelines (2023 Guidelines or Guidelines) that reflect the Agencies’ expansive antitrust enforcement efforts and, in some instances, novel theories that they are evaluating in merger investigations and challenges.1 The new Guidelines, while industry agnostic, have significant implications for health care provider transactions. When viewed alongside the Biden administration’s focus on health care costs and identifying anticompetitive health care practices,2 health care provider mergers are likely to face even greater scrutiny, including new and untested theories of anticompetitive harm, going forward.
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