On July 3, District Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas issued an order enjoining the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) from enforcing its “Final Rule” against plaintiffs Ryan, LLC (“Ryan”) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber”). If implemented, the Final Rule would effectively render nearly all non-compete agreements unlawful. Accordingly, this opinion was one of the most highly anticipated judicial decisions in antitrust and labor and employment law in recent memory. Judge Brown declined to issue a nationwide injunction at preliminary injunction stage. So, for now, the ..read more

The United Kingdom remains a key European jurisdiction for competition damages actions, also in a post-Brexit world. In particular the number of collective proceedings for competition damages has significantly increased. This is in particular true for stand-alone claims which do not rely on an infringement finding by a competition regulator. Currently there are nearly fifty pending collective proceedings listed on the CAT’s website. Cases relate to both infringements of anticompetitive agreements and abuse of dominance prohibitions and span across a number of industry sectors, including digita ..read more

On June 6, 2024, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he led a multistate coalition of eleven (11) state attorneys general in in submitting a comment letter (the “Comment Letter”) in response to the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (together the “Agencies”) request for information regarding consolidation in healthcare by private equity. On March 5, 2024, the Agencies issued a “Request for Information on Consolidation in Healthcare Markets,” on the same day the Agencies hosted a public works ..read more

The health care industry has been a particular focus of antitrust concern in recent years, including recent policy initiatives, private equity warnings, and enforcement actions from both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The new Task Force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion (HCMC), announced this month by the DOJ, is the latest example of antitrust scrutiny on the industry. Much like the DOJ Antitrust Division’s other recent task force, the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), the HCMC will draw together government enforcement officials to share exp ..read more

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its Final Rule banning employers from imposing post-employment noncompete requirements on their workers (the “Final Rule”). The FTC has indicated that it will continue to prioritize enforcement in the healthcare industry, with objectives seeming to include alleviating physician shortages and improving access to healthcare. What the Final Rule means for healthcare organizations generally, and for nonprofits in particular, is not entirely clear and is likely to be challenged.  Focus on Healthcare The FTC rece ..read more

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) voted 3-2 to issue its final rule (“Final Rule”) banning employers from imposing noncompete clauses on their workers, approving the final rule in a special Open Commission Meeting.  The FTC issued the Final Rule more than 15 months after publishing a proposed rule. Since that time, the FTC has received tens of thousands of comments, with the FTC claiming that 25,000 of the 26,000 comments received supported a ban on noncompetes.  According to FTC Chair Lina Khan, “Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and ro ..read more

Parties involved in or considering health care transactions in California have been focused on navigating the new rules set by California’s Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA),[1] and newly proposed legislation could present additional challenges in consummating certain health care transactions, particularly those involving private equity. Introduced in February 2024, California’s Assembly Bill 3129 seeks to curb consolidation in the health care industry allegedly driven by private equity firms and hedge funds. As summarized in greater detail below, the bill would require that these par ..read more

On March 5, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“the FTC”) hosted a public workshop titled “Private Capital, Public Impact: An FTC Workshop on Private Equity in Health Care”, which covered the impact of private equity investment on the health care system. The workshop included panelists from the FTC, the Department of Justice (“the DOJ”), the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) (together, “the Agencies”), academic thought-leaders, and health care professionals. On the same day as the workshop the Agencies launched a “Cross-Government Inquiry on Impact of Corporate Greed in Health C ..read more

Are you considering a transaction in the healthcare industry?  Join us for our complimentary webcast, Navigating Increased Scrutiny for Health Care Deals in 2024. Together with Moss Adams and America’s Physician Groups, we’ll address the new pressures facing health care systems, private equity investors, providers, and other stakeholders looking to complete a transaction in the health care ecosystem, as health care deals continue to face antitrust and regulatory scrutiny by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—and now, the Department of Health and Human Serv ..read more

On January 26, 2024, the State Council of China published the “Regulations of the Filing Threshold for Operators’ Concentration (2024 Revision)” (the “New Filing Threshold”), which took effect on the same day. This amendment to the filing thresholds for operators’ concentration will enhance the allocation of anti-monopoly enforcement resources, and represents another step China takes to improve its competition policy, and foster the development of a more transparent and efficient competition regulatory framework. 1. Significantly increased the turnover thresholds for operators’ concentration f ..read more