FTC And DOJ To Host Second Public Workshop On Health Care Competition

Last March, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) began a public workshop series entitled, "Examining Health Care Competition." On February 24 and 25, 2015, the FTC will physically host the second workshop in this series, co-hosted again by the Antitrust Division of the DOJ. Last year's workshop explored trends and innovation in the health care industry that may affect competition.¹ The upcoming workshop will study recent developments related to health care provider organization and payment models that may affect competition and consumer protection in the provision of health care services.

Since the first workshop, the FTC has secured several high-profile health care antitrust wins in the ProMedica² and St. Luke's³ cases, and has staked out in a number of speeches by FTC Commissioners and the head of the Bureau of Competition an aggressive enforcement position in which antitrust should not give way to other health care policies.⁴ Whil