U.S. Healthcare Antitrust in the Transactional Space: Scanning the Horizon for Change

Major changes are underway with respect to how healthcare deals get done in the U.S., with new merger guidelines and HSR reporting requirements waiting in the wings, new analytical frameworks being explored, and new pre-close notice and clearance laws proliferating at a rapid pace at the state level. More small-scale healthcare deals will be subject to some type of antitrust scrutiny than ever before, with many clients confronting antitrust principles and processes for the first time.  In an environment in which skepticism about private equity investment in healthcare and scale-based efficiencies in provider deals has never been higher, providing effective advice in 2023 will involve more complex counseling, starting at the earliest stages of the deal process, working shoulder to shoulder with transactional and regulatory counsel teams. Take a moment to understand where you need to be looking for new developments at the federal and state levels, consider how to best educate and manage expectations for clients regarding timing, risk, and expense, and generally prepare for a once-in-a-generation shift in how our work gets done.

By Holden Brooks^[1]

In the remainder of 2023, providing effective representation of U.S. healthcare clients in the transactional space will increasingly depend on scanning the horizon to identify and understand new laws and enforcement priorities at the state and the federal level. This article attempts to describe in brief some of the