Antitrust Laws
Health care antitrust explores the issues of law and public policy in applying federal antitrust law to the health care industry. The purpose of antitrust law is to protect competition so as to enhance consumer welfare. Health care providers and payors operate under a complex mixture of market competition and government regulation, which significantly affects the application of federal antitrust law in this context. The AANS and CNS have long supported the idea that physicians should be allowed to jointly negotiate the terms and conditions of their contracts with health plans without subjecting them to per se violations of the antitrust laws.
