The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division recently withdrew its support for three joint policies with the Federal Trade Commission, which each created antitrust safety zones in the health-care industry, Bloomberg reports. These included a 1993 policy with safety zones for mergers, participation in exchanges of price and cost information, and joint purchasing arrangements. In addition, a 1996 policy clarified and expanded the 1993 safety zones and provided additional guidance for conduct that fell outside the safety zones. And finally, a 2011 policy created a safety zone for accountable care organizations.
This move shifts the landscape for antitrust enforcement and may change longstanding analyses for health-care industry transactions and collaborations. Read more.
