Health Care Antitrust

Health care markets are replete with antitrust issues. From operations advice and M&A guidance to civil and criminal investigations and litigation, health care industry clients rely on Ropes & Gray to resolve the full range of antitrust challenges.

Overview

Ropes & Gray’s antitrust attorneys have long played a central role in the health care system's evolution. We have facilitated the formation of hospital networks and organizations, assisted with the formation of physician and physician hospital organizations, and guided dozens of hospitals through the merger review process at state and federal levels.

Our attorneys have also secured favorable business review letters from federal and state agencies regarding joint ventures and affiliations, and defended nearly every type of provider in state and federal investigations. Our litigators have successfully represented our health care clients in a wide variety of antitrust litigations, and handle all types of health care antitrust matters:

Government Investigations

We regularly appear before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and have responded to numerous subpoenas over the years. This experience, combined with our efficient ability to answer information requests, ensures that government investigations do not unnecessarily burden our clients.

Joint Ventures

Ropes & Gray antitrust attorneys advise clients on the size, formation, pricing, integration, and exclusive arrangements associated with health care joint ventures. We have substantial experience with a wide variety of provider-side agreements, including affiliations, “virtual mergers,” and accountable-care organizations. Our antitrust group works closely with the firm’s health care attorneys to reduce the risk that joint ventures will run afoul of antitrust pitfalls, whether the collaborations involve group purchasing or joint contracting and clinical integration. We have also designed comprehensive clinical and financial integration programs for large physician networks, including those that employ messenger models.

Hospital Mergers

Our team of FTC and DOJ veterans has extensive experience in guiding hospital mergers to successful completion. The antitrust group combines deep substantive knowledge of the practice area with a keen understanding of the merger review process, and includes a pre-merger notification group renowned for its mastery of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act’s complex filing requirements, which is especially relevant for hospital mergers involving non-profit institutions.

Physician Hospital Organizations

Our antitrust group provides skillful advice on the formation and operation of physician organizations, physician hospital organizations and Accountable Care Organizations, and has significant experience in representing such organizations in the context of state and federal investigations.

Counseling & Compliance

We routinely advise health care providers on antitrust issues, including those associated with managed care contracting and pricing, and physician staffing. We also devise compliance programs for large physician groups and health care systems, tailoring each program to meet the client’s specific needs.

Health Care Antitrust Litigation

We have significant experience representing hospitals and health care systems in connection with antitrust claims involving: price fixing conspiracies, most favored nation pricing, exclusionary conduct, monopolization, closed staffing models, and other physician issues.


Experience
Ropes & Gray’s antitrust attorneys have successfully represented clients in all types of health care related antitrust matters.
The team assists clients with a range of antitrust work, including transactional, counseling, and litigation.
Chambers USA