Federation Of American Hospitals Urges Merger Guideline Consistency From FTC, DOJ

The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to maintain certain aspects of the hospital merger guidelines but modernize the enforcement of antitrust laws.

In response to a Request for Information (RFI) on merger enforcement, FAH recommended that the federal agencies retain continuity in the hospital and health system merger guidelines. The organization stated that its members rely on the consistent and transparent guidelines the agencies use to analyze merger and acquisition activity.

Related: On Their Silver Anniversary, It’s Time to Burnish the Healthcare Guidelines

“This consistency leads to better decision-making, reduced costs, and more efficient merger review processes. Significant revisions to the guidelines would risk eroding these efficiencies by introducing uncertainty,” the letter said. “In short, the guidelines work, and the FAH urges the agencies to leave the guidelines substantively intact, making only surgical amendments that are necessary and targeted to particular circumstances.”

Antitrust policy in the United States is undergoing dramatic changes as the Biden administration has championed novel approaches to competition law to correct what some scholars and policy advocates see as unadressed issues with competition, particularly with regard to M&A policy.

Read More: Biden’s Antitrust: The Transformation is Here But Will it Last?

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