Dive Brief:
- Julie Brill is leaving her post as commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission at the end of the month.
- Appointed by President Obama and sworn in in April 2010, her tenure coincided with several high-profile FTC cases in the healthcare field.
- After leaving the FTC, Brill plans to stay in Washington, D.C., and go into private practice.
Dive Insight:
During her tenure, the FTC stepped up oversight of health data security, bringing cases against Wyndham Worldwide for not adequately protecting against the theft of online credit card data and a dental practice management software vendor for misrepresenting its level of encryption of patient data.
Recent antitrust activity includes a challenge to the merger of Illinois’ Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem, which the FTC said would limit competition in and around Chicago. The commission has also promised a rigorous review of the proposed $34 billion Aetna-Humana merger to ensure it won’t adversely affect consumer costs and access to care.
Prior to the FTC, Brill served as chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice and assistant attorney general for consumer protection and antitrust for the state of Vermont.
“Commissioner Brill’s expertise in consumer protection, privacy, and antitrust has been an asset to the agency,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement.