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Alexandra D. Montague, Katherine L. Gudiksen, and Jaime S. King

August 5, 2021

 

 

While federal oversight over health care provider transactions is crucial, state officials—working independently or alongside federal antitrust enforcers—must work to protect competition in health care markets across the country. Currently, significant variation exists among state legal and administrative frameworks that can be used to review proposed health care transactions for potential anticompetitive harm. Based on an analysis of state merger review practices in all 50 states, this brief describes the variation among state review practices to identify the key elements of a comprehensive state merger review framework. To protect competition and consumers from the anticompetitive effects of consolidation, state regulators need broad pretransaction notice; sufficient time to review transactions using substantive review criteria; the ability to approve, conditionally approve, or block transactions administratively; and the means to oversee conditionally approved transactions.

 

Download the report here.