Federal Trade Commission (FTC) news and information

The American Medical Association joined healthcare and consumer groups calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to limit the ability of drugmakers to enter agreements that keep generic competition off the market.
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Generic drugs are supposed to compete with branded pharmaceuticals to drive down prices, but a report from the Federal Trade Commission says a spike in legal settlements among drugmakers in 2012 stifled competition and cost Americans an extra $3.5 billion.
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Tenet Healthcare Corp. has received federal antitrust approval to acquire an independent physician association with more than 400 doctors based in Long Beach, Calif.—a deal that has not been publicly announced, and which the parties will not comment on.
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A Federal Trade Commission order for commercial data miners to disclose information about how they obtain and use consumers' information likely will expose a dark market in health-related information, a leading privacy advocate says.
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The collision of old-world antitrust enforcement and new ideas like accountable care, bundled payments, value-based purchasing and patient-centered medical homes has ratcheted up the uncertainty over healthcare deals.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a "pay-for-delay" case that has the Federal Trade Commission accusing generic drugmakers of violating competition laws by agreeing to accept $42 million in annual payments in exchange for not selling generic versions of a more-expensive...
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Ten cardiologists in the Reno, Nev., area already are taking advantage of a first-of-its-kind settlement between Renown Health and the Federal Trade Commission that allowed the doctors to void their noncompete agreements and go to work for competitors.
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The trade group for U.S. health plans has registered its opinion in one of the hardest-fought hospital mergers in a decade, urging the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to support the Federal Trade Commission's intent to undo ProMedica's 2010 acquisition of St. Luke's Hospital in Maumee, Ohio.
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The Supreme Court has long allowed state governments to disregard federal antitrust law and establish monopolies to meet public goals. But a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission told the justices Monday that the same power does not flow to public hospital authorities unless the legislature...
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The Supreme Court heard arguments in the federal government's claim that two private corporations used a public hospital authority to complete a deal that left one company as the owner of the only two hospitals in Albany, Ga. The Federal Trade Commission says the deal violates federal antitrust law.
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