Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

A final order settled charges stemming from Hoechst's merger with Rhone-Poulenc S.A. According to the complaint, the merger (the merged firm would be renamed Aventis S.A.) raised antitrust concerns in the market for cellulose acetate and direct thrombin acetate. The order requires the divestiture of the 'subsidiary, Rhodia, a specialty chemicals firm that produces cellulose acetate.

The order prohibits Preferred Health Services from orchestrating collective agreements and other terms for physician services when negotiating with health insurance plans and other third party payers. According to the complaint these agreements among the physician-hospital organization of doctors and the Oconee Memorial Hospital in northwestern South Carolina to collectively negotiate fees and terms of services could lead to higher health care costs and limited physician access.

With an administrative complaint issued on July 8, 2003 the Commission charged a San Francisco, California physicians’ organization with engaging in an agreement under which its competing members agreed collectively on the price and other terms on which they would enter into contracts with health plans or other third party payers. The complaint also alleged that Brown and Toland directed its physicians to end their preexisting contracts with payers and required its physician members to charge specified prices in all Preferred Provider Organization contracts. A final consent order prohibits Brown and Toland from negotiating with payers on behalf of physicians, refusing to deal with payers, and setting terms for physicians to deal with payers, unless the physicians are clinically or financially integrated.