AAI Resources on Competition and the Healthcare Supply Chain

The current COVID-19 public health crisis highlights the critical competition, public policy, and security issues relating to the healthcare supply chain. At a time when some functions within the healthcare system are temporarily immunized from the antitrust laws, it is essential to emphasize the importance of vigorous antitrust oversight and the benefits of competition for the welfare of consumers, healthcare workers, and innovation.

AAI has produced legal, economic, and institutional analysis of healthcare competition issues for over two decades. This evidence-based analysis touches on all aspects of the supply chain, including the adverse effects of consolidation at the provider, insurer, and intermediary levels; the debate around bargaining power; and the importance of diversity and redundancy on the stability and safety of the supply chain.

Below is a sampling of key healthcare supply chain issues for which AAI has generated research, education, and advocacy to inform and engage the antitrust enforcement and competition policy communities. This body of work also serves in a vital role to inform longer term responses to the current public health crisis and to suggest the importance of a broader public policy framework for ensuring competition in this critical sector. Note: AAI resources on competition in the pharmaceutical sector can be located separately under “Health & Pharmaceuticals” section of our website.

 

COVID-Related Issues

March 24, 2020 – AAI Calls for Stronger Antitrust Safeguards in Government Responses to COVID-19 Crisis

March 31, 2020 – Can Competition Save Lives? The Intersection of COVID-19, Ventilators, and Antitrust Enforcement

April 2, 2020 – Barak Orbach on Competition Policy and COVID-19

May 7, 2020 – When COVID-19 is the Symptom and Not the Disease: Consolidation, Competition, and Breakdowns in Food Supply Chains

 

Healthcare Supply Chain Issues

June 12, 2018 – AAI Issues Part I in New White Paper Series on Competition in the Delivery and Payment of Healthcare Services — Experts Tim Greaney and Barak Richman Unpack Consolidation in Provider and Insurer Markets, Highlight Enforcement Issues and Priorities

June 18, 2018 – AAI Issues Part II in New White Paper Series on Competition in the Delivery and Payment of Healthcare Services — Experts Tim Greaney And Barak Richman Discuss Promoting Competition in Healthcare Enforcement And Policy: Framing an Active Competition Agenda

June 29, 2016 – AAI Tells Court to Dismiss State Action Appeal (Teladoc v. Texas Medical Board)

November 10, 2014 – CVS Takes Its Anti-Smoking Policy to the Next Level: AAI Urges Antitrust Scrutiny of Anticompetitive Scheme Masquerading as a Drive for Public Health

September 12, 2014 – AAI Urges Massachusetts Court to Reject Conduct Remedy for Anticompetitive Hospital Merger

May 7, 2012 – AAI Issues White Paper “Healthcare Intermediaries: Competition and Healthcare Policy at Loggerheads?”

 

Health Insurer Mergers

June 4, 2019 – AAI Testifies on Behalf of Consumer Groups at Rare Tunney Act Hearing on Proposed Merger of CVS and Aetna

December 18, 2018 – AAI Asks DOJ to Explain Its Approval of CVS-Aetna Merger

October 10, 2018 – AAI Says DOJ’s Approval of CVS-Aetna Merger Imperils Competition and Consumers in Critical Parts of Healthcare Supply Chain

March 26, 2018 – AAI Calls on DOJ to Block the Merger of CVS-Aetna — Vertical Integration Will Restructure Important Healthcare Markets, to the Detriment of Competition and Consumers

March 17, 2017 – AAI and Consumer Groups Urge Court to Affirm Injunction Blocking Anthem-Cigna Merger (United States v. Anthem)

January 11, 2016 – AAI Weighs in on Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna Health Insurance Mergers, Says DOJ Should “Just Say No”