As we recently reported, Virginia recently joined Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Washington in passing a new law restricting the use of non-competes against low-wage earners (DC legislators made a similar...more
It has not been unusual for employed physicians to seek the protection provided to independent medical staff members through the due process procedures provided by medical staff by-laws. The case of Levitin and Chicago...more
We don’t normally think of American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals as friends. After all, the AHA represents nonprofits, while the FAH represents for-profits. ...more
In the first fully litigated challenge by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to a hospital acquisition of physician practices, a federal district court judge ruled that St. Luke’s Health System’s (St. Luke’s) acquisition of a...more
Clinical integration is a somewhat imprecisely defined concept in the health care industry. Lawyers and health care executives have identified components and elements of clinical integration and frequently ask how many of...more
Driven by Federal Health Care Reform and a desire to remain independent of hospitals and health care systems, physician groups are actively exploring different collaborative and alignment options, including the formation of...more
Recently, hospitals have been actively acquiring primary care and specialty physician groups, resulting in the employment of those physicians. This trend has occurred largely in response to reimbursement changes and other...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provided its first guidance for clinically integrated networks since passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the joint FTC/DOJ Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Antitrust Policy...more
On February 13, 2013, the FTC issued an advisory opinion letter that it did not plan to challenge the proposed creation of the Norman Physician Hospital Organization (“Norman PHO”)—which includes approximately 280...more
In a February 13, 2013, advisory opinion, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Competition stated that it has no present intention to recommend that the FTC challenge a clinical integration program (CIP) proposed by...more
FTC staff advisory opinions are not issued all that frequently and advisory opinions regarding clinical integration are issued even less frequently. The latest advisory opinion, issued last week, is therefore noteworthy, not...more