Antitrust Byte

On April 11, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released their 40th Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino Report (“HSR Report”) detailing merger enforcement activity in fiscal year 2017 (covering October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017). According to the HSR Report, despite the annual increase in reporting thresholds, there were 2,052 reportable transactions in 2017, representing a 12 percent increase over fiscal year 2016. Almost 5 percent of those transactions were in the health services industry.

Of the transactions reported, 39 were challenged by the federal antitrust enforcement agencies—21 by the FTC and 18 by the DOJ. And of those challenged, the vast majority were settled, abandoned, or restructured to satisfy raised competitive concerns.

The HSR Report also indicates that the federal antitrust enforcement agencies received HSR notifications for 32 hospital mergers and 35 acquisitions by ambulatory health care service providers in fiscal year 2017. All of these transactions were permitted to close without a challenge or even a second request for information. This empirical data supports the statements from the federal antitrust enforcement agencies that challenges to health care transactions are the exception rather than the norm.

* * *

For additional information about the issues discussed above, or if you have any other antitrust concerns, please contact the Epstein Becker Green attorney who regularly handles your legal matters, or one of the authors of this Antitrust Byte:

E. John Steren
Member of the Firm
esteren@ebglaw.com

Patricia Wagner
Member of the Firm,
Chief Privacy Officer
pwagner@ebglaw.com

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.