The Federal Trade Commission sued U.S. Anesthesia Partners, one of the country’s top anesthesia staffing companies, and its private-equity backer, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, on Thursday, accusing both entities of scheming over a decade to acquire anesthesia practices in Texas, monopolize the market, drive up prices for patients and generate profits, NBC News reports.
“Thanks to its anticompetitive conduct, USAP has been able to extract monopoly profits while simultaneously growing its monopoly power,” the FTC said in its civil complaint, filed in federal court in the Southern District of Texas in Houston. “This conduct has resulted in egregious price increases for patients and their employers, on the order of tens of millions of dollars or more each year.”
The FTC’s suit follows recent comments by Lina Khan, the commission’s chairwoman, that her agency would investigate anticompetitive practices among companies acquired by private-equity firms. Read more.
