Healthcare Antitrust

Overview

BakerHostetler’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation practice advises providers and other healthcare clients on a variety of antitrust compliance and litigation issues, including: antitrust compliance programs; joint purchasing programs and other collaborative ventures; information sharing; credentialing and physician staff issues; hospital and physician contracting issues; provider mergers, including transactions involving hospitals, physicians and other providers; and Accountable Care Organizations.

We provide guidance on potential antitrust issues that may occur with various types of healthcare transactions such as acquisitions of hospitals and physician practices, network and other provider joint ventures, mergers, or any other type of business combinations. Our team represents clients involved in government investigations related to healthcare antitrust issues and we defend healthcare clients facing civil and criminal antitrust challenges brought by both federal and state government agencies and private plaintiffs nationwide. Our representative experience includes:

Select Experience

Represent a leading healthcare system against antitrust claims (price fixing) brought on behalf of a purported class of 19,000 registered nurses employed by the defendant hospital systems. The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in a 52-page opinion;
Advise a leading provider of kidney dialysis services with regard to its $3.5 billion acquisition of a competing provider;
Represent a hospital in challenging secret payments by a competitor to health insurance brokers;

Name	Title	Office	Email
Carl W. Hittinger Philadelphia / Washington, D.C. +1.215.564.2898 / +1.202.861.1774 Partner Carl W. Hittinger	Partner	Philadelphia	chittinger@bakerlaw.com
Marc G. Schildkraut Washington, D.C. +1.202.861.1604 Partner Marc G. Schildkraut	Partner	Washington, D.C.	mschildkraut@bakerlaw.com
Alyse F. Stach Philadelphia +1.215.564.5768 Counsel Alyse F. Stach	Counsel	Philadelphia	astach@bakerlaw.com

Experience

Represent a leading healthcare system against antitrust claims (price fixing) brought on behalf of a purported class of 19,000 registered nurses employed by the defendant hospital systems. The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in a 52-page opinion;
Advise a leading provider of kidney dialysis services with regard to its $3.5 billion acquisition of a competing provider;
Represent a hospital in challenging secret payments by a competitor to health insurance brokers;
Advise device manufacturers regarding purchase of or sale to competing manufacturers;
Represent a leading hospital in antitrust litigation resulting from the revocation of physician staff privileges; and
Represent a hospital client in a civil action for false and misleading statements, and related monopolistic and conspiratorial conduct by clients in an alleged violation of antitrust laws and the Lanham Act. The case was voluntarily withdrawn by the plaintiff after discovery was completed and subsequently dismissed by the court with prejudice.