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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking to address anticompetitive healthcare market activity with the formation of a new task force, according to an agency announcement. The group will be responsible for leading enforcement initiatives, creating coordinated agencywide strategies on investigations, identifying opportunities for FTC involvement in legal cases, and shaping new priorities for enforcement. Some examples of past actions include successful efforts to increase price transparency and terminate deceptive marketing techniques. FTC says the goal is to promote competition while protecting and educating consumers. The task force is scheduled to meet once a month and report to the agency chairman quarterly. It will be made up of various departments under FTC and may coordinate with law enforcement, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice, an associated memo notes.
Strategic priorities: FTC didn’t specify the exact issues the task force would be addressing, but the group is primarily an organizational and strategic coordination mechanism. It does not seem to be responsible for rewriting antitrust law but rather it will structure how enforcement is organized and deployed with a shift toward targeted, case-specific enforcement. It’s a signal that federal officials have less appetite for broad regulatory rules meant to keep anticompetitive behavior in check, which were used in some instances in healthcare’s recent past.