Christi Braun and
Farrah Short have submitted a
paper for the 2012 ABA/AHLA Antitrust in Healthcare Conference in which
they discuss the proper role of antitrust enforcement in achieving
today's health care reform goals in the context of
hospital-health insurer vertical mergers. The paper focuses on the
recent acquisition of the West Penn Allegheny Health System, Inc.
by Highmark, Inc., a health insurer. The acquisition followed on
the heels of the closely watched 2010 Third Circuit
case in which West Penn's antitrust lawsuit against
Highmark and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was
reinstated. While the analysis of competition in health care
mergers has typically focused on horizontal mergers, vertical
mergers have not been extensively studied or investigated. The
Allegheny County region of Pennsylvania, with its largest hospitals
and health insurers engaged in an ongoing legal battle, its second
largest hospital system on the brink of financial ruin, and health
care costs substantially higher than in similar markets relative to
the quality of care, may be a prime candidate for testing the costs
and benefits of a vertical merger and its impact on health care
reform goals.
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A well-attended program on antitrust treatment of "bundled pricing" and "loyalty discounts" at the American Bar Association Antitrust Section Spring Meeting highlighted the confusion generated by the antitrust law implications.
An interesting and growing debate in the antitrust arena is whether most favored nation ("MFN") pricing provisions are pro-competitive or anticompetitive. For many years, MFN provisions have been considered a fairly noncontroversial contract term included by purchasers in an attempt to assure that other buyers do not receive a more favorable price.
Nearly a year ago the Kansas Supreme Court issued a ruling that boldly separated Kansas, and its state antitrust law, from prevailing federal antitrust precedent in matters of resale price agreements.
In remarks made this week at the International Competition Network annual conference, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairwoman Edith Ramirez stated that health care will continue to be a top priority for the FTC.
During calendar year 2012, there were 283 cases notified to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition under Council Regulation No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings.
The EU General Court has overturned part of the European Commission's infringement decision against 24 European copyright collecting societies, in the so-called CISAC case.
The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") has reached a settlement with Anheuser-Busch InBev ("ABI") and Grupo Modelo S.A.B. de C.V. ("Modelo"), requiring ABI to divest Modelo’s entire U.S. business to Constellation Brands Inc. ("Constellation").
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