In comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ), National Nurses United (NNU) called on the agencies to strengthen federal regulations and guidelines to protect patients and health care workers from the negative effects of monopolistic mergers and acquisitions.
The FTC and DOJ are reviewing and revising their horizontal and vertical merger guidelines, to better protect patients from potentially anti-competitive deals. The agencies invited public comment and testimonies as a part of their review process.
NNU’s recommendations included, “calling on the FTC and DOJ to expand antitrust scrutiny and other guidelines in reviewing past practices of the buyers, such as higher charges to payers and patients, hospital closures and patient service cuts.”