Unraveling Ariadne’s Thread: Antitrust and the Big Data Revolution in Healthcare

Healthcare markets are forming in Europe. Indeed, some European countries, such as the Netherlands, have adopted the choice and competition model for healthcare delivery. The goal of competition among providers, however, may in certain cases conflict with essential goals of EU health systems including access and health equity. Competition authorities will be unable to address the main competition concerns that may emerge in light of these conflicts if they do not first address the core question of how to define and assess healthcare quality. There are three different models under which competition authorities around the globe may define and assess quality: The Market Approach, the Holistic Approach, and the Regulatory Approach. Competition authorities may benefit especially from the application of the Regulatory Approach and the Holistic Approach when they examine the newly emerged transactions and the new competition problems that they have to address in the age of big data revolution in healthcare. Taking as an example the Google/Fitbit deal, this piece takes the stance that if the Commission had examined this deal under the Regulatory and/or the Holistic Approach it might have been better able to detect the less visible harms such data-driven deals may cause to vulnerable populations and high-risk consumers. Hence, their analysis would be more in line with the vital goals and values of EU health systems, inclu