Dive Brief:
- The American Hospital Association has asked Congress to pass the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules (SMARTER) Act, which aims to align how the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice review mergers.
- The legislation would require the FTC and DOJ to meet the same requirements to obtain preliminary injunctions against mergers as well as end the FTC's process for managing merger challenges once an injunction has been denied.
- The AHA reported a need for the legislation via a statement to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights during the panel's Oct. 7 hearing.
Dive Insight:
The AHA outlines how the legislation could be expected to impact hospitals, saying the SMARTER Act is "narrowly crafted" for just one major outcome: Ensuring all proposed transactions are met with the same enforcement and review processes regardless of whether the FTC or the Antitrust Division of the DOJ reviews it. “The bill removes a deterrent to hospital integration and realignment, which is essential for success in the changing healthcare landscape,” the AHA stated.
The organization argues hospitals have been adversely affected by the FTC’s current ability to use its own internal administrative process to challenge a transaction, saying the additional time and financial burden of litigating a hospital transaction at both a preliminary injunction hearing and then an internal administrative proceeding has deterred many hospitals from pursuing procompetitive transactions.
The SMARTER Act would require the FTC and DOJ to rely on the federal court system to determine the competitiveness of a transaction.