The FTC says it’s getting tougher on hospital consolidation. Antitrust experts aren’t buying it

After the Federal Trade Commission’s flashy announcements last week that it was suing to block not one, but two hospital mergers, it’s tempting to think the agency — with its new Democratic majority — is living up to pledges from its leaders and President Biden to get tougher on health care consolidation.

Antitrust experts see it differently.

“When this new progressive FTC announced two hospital cases in one day, it felt like they were finally moving from rhetoric to action,” said Ken Field, a former FTC lawyer and current co-chair of Jones Day’s global health care practice. “But the complaints themselves are more smoke than fire.”

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