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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Health

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Wednesday, June 25, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 PM E.T.

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

$297.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL

This CLE course will provide healthcare counsel with an examination of the latest developments concerning clinical integration programs, as well as the FTC and DOJ assessment processes. The panel will offer best practices for effective clinical integration while mitigating antitrust concerns.

Faculty

E. John Steren
Member
Epstein Becker & Green PC

Mr. Steren leverages his more than 30 years of healthcare antitrust and litigation experience to help healthcare clients manage the risks of joint ventures and other business arrangements and to defend them against government investigations and enforcement actions. He also provides counseling and litigation services to employers in connection with non-competition and pricing-related issues. Among Mr. Steren’s clients are large healthcare providers (or provider groups), such as hospitals and healthcare systems, physicians, ambulatory surgery center corporations, and other specialty care providers (e.g., chains of urological care or anesthesia providers). His clients also include large retail chains, commercial and residential lenders, and product manufacturers and distributors. A thought leader in the antitrust field, Mr. Steren speaks regularly and has authored numerous articles on antitrust issues affecting the healthcare industry.

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Description

While talk of change on Capitol Hill continues on healthcare, one consistency is that healthcare providers around the country still seek out ways to better collaborate and coordinate care. Accountable care organizations and other forms of clinical and financial integration are the most common types of collaborations other than mergers and acquisitions. However, competitor collaborations can raise antitrust concerns. The FTC, DOJ, state attorneys general, and other market participants are scrutinizing these arrangements to ensure compliance with antitrust laws.

The speakers will describe how the FTC investigates collaborations among providers such as ACOs and clinically integrated networks. They will discuss collaborative activities that are unlikely to raise antitrust concerns and the types of situations that are likely to prompt an investigation. They will address how to reduce antitrust risks in forming and operating a physician network, joint venture, or ACO, and how best to respond to an antitrust investigation if one occurs.

Listen as our authoritative speakers provide practical guidance on how to assess the antitrust risks of provider collaborations and how to reduce the likelihood of an antitrust investigation or challenge.

Outline

  1. Antitrust overview
  2. Antitrust assessment of provider collaborations
    1. Is there sufficient financial or clinical integration?
    2. Will the network have market power--how does one go about determining product and geographic markets, or is that even necessary?
    3. Exclusive vs. non-exclusive networks
    4. How to document potential cost and quality efficiencies
    5. What conduct creates "red flags"?
  3. Addressing some common questions
    1. How does the network know that it is sufficiently integrated?
    2. When can joint negotiations begin?
    3. Should the network work with health plans--and if so, how?
    4. How relevant is evidence of cost or quality gains?
    5. Does working with a hospital raise or lower the antitrust risks?
    6. What if prices go up?
    7. Should the network seek an advisory opinion?
    8. And more

Benefits

The speakers will review these and other noteworthy issues:

  • What are the lessons from the FTC's advisory opinions regarding clinical integration programs?
  • What are the elements to include in a clinically integrated provider network within the meaning of antitrust law?
  • What are best practices for effective clinical integration and avoiding antitrust problems?