Healthcare Merger Enforcement in the 2020s: Policy Changes and Enforcement Continuity
A 2021 executive order and the 2023 Merger Guidelines signaled that the Biden Administration intended to step up federal scrutiny of healthcare mergers. The second Trump Administration gave mixed signals: new leadership withdrew the executive order and criticized their predecessors yet retained the new Merger Guidelines. Do enforcement patterns reflect this shifting rhetoric? If not, what accounts for the difference, and how should we think about future enforcement? Cory Capps, Leyla Karakas, and Matt Wohlleben explore these questions in their article “Healthcare Merger Enforcement in the 2020s: Policy Changes and Enforcement Continuity,” featured in a special issue on Consolidation in Healthcare Markets in Medical Care Research and Review.
Although the Biden, first Trump, and second Trump administrations have used markedly different antitrust language, the authors conclude that federal enforcement activity of healthcare mergers has been relatively consistent in practice. Healthcare merger enforcement did not markedly increase under Biden or decrease under the current Trump Administration. They support this conclusion with empirical evidence on the number of merger challenges and a careful textual review of recent merger challenges in the healthcare sector. The authors then highlight areas where enforcement has changed, including a return to resolution of merger challenges via consent decree and the growing role of state antitrust enforcers.
Looking ahead, the authors consider the policy implications: merger enforcement is best understood as a tool for blocking proposed anticompetitive deals and discouraging comparable transactions. It is less well-suited for unwinding long-term healthcare consolidation. More extensive deconsolidation would likely require legislative action at the federal or state level.
Speakers will discuss this article and the rest of the special issue in the upcoming Symposium on Consolidation in Healthcare Markets on October 22. Virtual attendance is free and open to the public.
Read Cory, Leyla, and Matt’s article here.
Read all articles in the special issue here.
RSVP to the virtual meeting here.
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