Last week, the United States Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced the formation of the Task Force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion (“HCMC”). The task force appears to have been inspired by concern for health care platforms that combine doctors with insurers, data, and other assets. For example, one platform company that combines a number of different health care industry sectors under its roof may be scrutinized by the HCMC. Leading the task force will be Katrina Rouse, an antitrust prosecutor who joined the DOJ’s antitrust division in 2011 and who served as a health care and consumer products section trial attorney.

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its final rule regarding noncompete clauses, and which determined that such clauses are an unfair method of competition and therefore violate section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”). See 16 CFR Part 910. Since its release, the rule has generated some uncertainty in the health care industry because the ban’s ultimate applicability to nonprofits is unclear. Nonprofit hospitals make up the majority of all hospital systems in the United States, with the American Hospital Association (“AHA”) having indicated that as many as 58% of hospital systems claim tax-exempt status as nonprofits. Notably, nonprofit health care organizations regularly use noncompetes with physicians.