Healthcare Antitrust

Healthcare organizations operate in an environment of constant business and regulatory change. Business combinations—including mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures—can create opportunities for growth, but they also introduce complex antitrust and regulatory considerations. Dickinson Wright’s Healthcare Antitrust team helps hospitals, physician groups, health plans, and other healthcare organizations navigate these challenges, reduce legal risk, and pursue strategic growth opportunities.

We advise clients on the full spectrum of healthcare antitrust matters, including mergers, joint ventures, clinically integrated networks, contracting, and regulatory compliance. Combining deep knowledge of healthcare operations with extensive antitrust experience, our attorneys help clients structure transactions, develop collaborative arrangements, and respond effectively to government investigations and enforcement actions.

Our Services

• Antitrust Risk & Regulatory Strategy: Advising on mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act filings, and other strategic transactions.
• Joint Ventures & Clinically Integrated Networks: Structuring collaborative arrangements and providing ongoing antitrust and regulatory compliance guidance.
• Group Purchasing & Contracting: Counseling on pricing, exclusion, reimbursement, and competitive contracting practices.
• Litigation & Government Investigations: Representing clients in civil litigation, government investigations, and enforcement actions involving antitrust issues.
• Compliance & Regulatory Developments: Advising on Certificate of Need requirements, compliance programs, and emerging antitrust and healthcare regulatory developments.

Representative Matters

• Represented health plans in civil antitrust litigation involving allegations of price fixing, refusals to deal, and monopolization.
• Defended insurers in federal and state investigations involving “most favored nation” clauses in payer arrangements.
• Advised healthcare providers on antitrust issues involving accountable care organizations (ACOs), group purchasing organizations (GPOs), physician organizations, network admissions, joint ventures, and clinically integrated networks.
• Represented health systems in merger and acquisition transactions, including obtaining regulatory clearance from the FTC and state authorities.
• Defended a healthcare provider in litigation involving the denial of accreditation by a national certifying organization based on alleged anticompetitive conduct.