Antitrust enforcement in the hospital industry has been an area of sharp contention in recent years. Prior to the decision in the Evanston Northwestern case in 2005, the Federal Trade Commission and the United States Department of Justice had lost the last seven hospital cases. One of the...

In 2016 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) lost motions for preliminary injunction in two separate hospital mergers. In both cases the district courts rejected the FTC's geographic market definition based on flawed interpretations of the “hypothetical monopolist” test. Fortunately, the...

The literature on mergers between private hospitals suggests that such mergers often produce little benefit. Despite this, the UK government has pursued an active policy of hospital merger. These mergers are initiated by a regulator, acting on behalf of the public, and justified on the grounds...