The updated policy guide reflects new merger trends and lessons learned from the original guide while maintaining its goal of eliminating any anticompetitive effects of a proposed transaction. Under the updated policy, the Office of the General Counsel will be responsible for enforcing division consent decrees.
In horizontal mergers, the Antitrust Division continues to use mainly structural remedies, occasionally with conduct remedies. Many vertical transactions may require tailored conduct relief to prevent anticompetitive effects without losing the merger’s efficiencies.
The updated policy may affect mergers in healthcare as more organizations look to integrate clinical, operational and technological systems. While one of the goals of integration is to achieve efficiencies, there is a risk that some of these transactions may have anticompetitive effects.
Read the DOJ release on the updated Policy Guide to Merger Remedies.
Read the updated Policy Guide to Merger Remedies (pdf).
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