FTC Sets Berks County's Broken Orthopedic Market

Keystone Orthopaedic Specialists, LLC ("Keystone"), and Orthopaedic Associates of Reading, Ltd. ("OA") reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission last week that they had violated the antitrust laws through the consolidation of six independent orthopedic practices (one of which was OA who later broke away from Keystone) in Berks County, Pennsylvania into a single practice. The Commission accused Keystone of leveraging its 76% market share to impose higher prices for most Berks County health plans — all the while offering no merger-specific efficiencies in a market facing recruiting, entry and expansion challenges. The resulting consent holds Keystone and OA separate and oversees their individual efforts to hire additional Berks County orthopedists. This investigation and consent follows the Commission's recent physician merger efforts and state policy goals to improve competition in physician markets by targeted antitrust enforcement aimed at those