Understanding antitrust: focus on the relevant market.

The increase in the past five years of antitrust cases involving the healthcare industry has left few healthcare organizations untouched. Even if a provider has not been part of actual antitrust litigation or involved in a government investigation, the courts' antitrust decisions of the past several years have molded and will continue to affect competitive strategies and operational plans at all levels of the industry. Antitrust is becoming a necessary, if sometimes distasteful, fact of competitive life. In this first of a five-part series of articles on antitrust issues in health care, a framework for understanding the antitrust laws and the increasing number of antitrust suits brought by, against, and between providers is developed. Further articles will feature an expanded discussion of several topics including: antitrust guidelines on medical staff privileges for hospital decision makers; physician-hospital competition and antitrust considerations; provider antitrust suits against third-party payers; and a discussion of whether the antitrust risks in forming and operating preferred provider organizations has been overcome.