May 14, 2024

Antitrust Division Announces Task Force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion

Melissa O'Donnell, Barbara Sicalides, Julian Weiss

On May 9, Assistant Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Kanter announced that Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division has formed a Task Force on Healthcare Monopolies and Collusion (HCMC). The initiative will bring together civil and criminal prosecutors, economists, health care industry experts, technologists, data scientists, investigators, and policy advisors to identify and address risks to competition in health care, including increased consolidation and coordination of providers and insurers, higher rates, medical billing, quality of care, suppression of wages and labor mobility, IT services, and misuse of health data.

The creation of the task force was guided by three principles:

1. Health care has changed and needs to be recognized as a multisided platform: The DOJ characterized health care companies as "multisided giants" and intermediaries that are no longer focused a single line of business, and instead comprise coordinated stacks of businesses, including insurers, providers, PBMs, banks, and claims processors. Kanter stated that health care companies are accumulating assets at an alarming pace and becoming "gatekeepers" of the health care system.

2. Government agencies need to coordinate to police the health care industry: The DOJ emphasized the importance of interagency coordination of efforts and use of all available tools, including antitrust, criminal, and economics.

3. Making change requires strong policies and antitrust enforcement: HCMC will advocate for robust policies that target antitrust enforcement and collaboration across government agencies.

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