Antitrust--pre-merger compliance.

On September 15, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission issued joint antitrust guidelines to enhance health care industry understanding of antitrust enforcement policy in six topic areas. The guidelines represent a statement of federal antitrust enforcement policy. The guidelines do not change existing law and are not binding on private antitrust litigants or the courts. According to the guidelines, the agencies will not challenge a merger between two general acute-care hospitals where one of the hospitals (1) has an average of fewer than 100 licensed beds over the three most recent years, (2) has an average daily inpatient census of fewer than 40 patients over the three most recent years and (3) is more than five years old. With regard to hospital mergers that fall outside of the safety zone, traditional antitrust merger analysis will apply.