Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog

Evanston Northwestern Settles Price Fixing Claims in FTC Investigation

As a follow up to an earlier post on th FTC's move to undo a hospital merger between Highland Park Hospital and Evanston Northwestern, the merged hospital settled a price fixing claim by agreeing to stop negotiating fee for service contracts for independent physicians affilated with the hospital.   The FTC's case to undo the merger continues. 

EU Imposes Fine on Monochloracetic Acid Price Fixing Cartel

Fine of 216.91 million Euros imposed on Akzo Nobel, Atofina, and Hoechst by the European Commission. 

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Judge Enjoins DoJ Prosecution of Stolt-Nielsen and Wingfield

On January 14,  the US District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued an order enjoining antitrust prosecution by the DoJ of Stolt-Nielsen and its former managing director for alleged antitrust violations in the parcel tanker industry.  A link to a brief article and the order. 

FTC to Review 2000 Hospital merger

In order to address a source of rising health care costs, the FTC announced that it would take a more agressive stance towards mergers in the health care industry.  Next month, the Commission brings to trial a case that seeks to reverse the 2000 merger between Highland Park Hospital in suburban Chicago and Evanston Northwestern  Healthcare Corp.   The case is founded on post-merger anti-competitive activity, which allegedly has increased costs to insureres and employers by about 40-60 per cent.   Today's Wall Stree Journal has a front page story and CNN also reports on the story.