ALEXANDRIA, Va. (July 19, 2023) – The National Community Pharmacists Association is reviewing with great interest the draft update of the Merger Guidelines released today by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The goal of the draft update released today, according to an FTC/DOJ news release, is “to better reflect how the agencies determine a merger’s effect on competition in the modern economy and evaluate proposed mergers under the law.”
Last year, NCPA urged the agencies to amend the guidelines to bring health care consolidation into focus and also include quality, choice, and lower costs for consumers. “Over the last 40 years, the accommodating policy toward mergers found in the current structure and application of the guidelines has resulted in a substantial lessening of competition throughout the economy,” wrote NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, MBA, as part of NCPA’s recommendations. “Even the simple step of more faithfully applying the guidelines as currently written would have a positive impact.”
Additionally, scheduled for Thursday, July 20, is a vote in which the FTC will consider issuing a statement cautioning against reliance on prior advocacy statements and studies related to pharmacy benefit managers that no longer reflect current market realities.
NCPA issued the following statement on behalf of CEO Douglas Hoey on these developments:
“Across industries but in pharmacy specifically, we’re at a tipping point. It’s plain as day that mega-corporations like vertically integrated PBM-insurers exercise enormous power over the marketplace and in many cases are creating for themselves unfair advantages that are driving up costs, limiting consumer choices, and killing access.
“These actions by the FTC and DOJ are promising and may prevent the next monopoly from forming, but we need greater recalibration and enforcement if we are to protect consumers and smaller businesses. We continue urging policymakers to scrutinize megamergers that are already in place and work to establish a fair and competitive marketplace.”
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Founded in 1898, the National Community Pharmacists Association is the voice for the community pharmacist, representing over 19,400 pharmacies that employ nearly 240,000 individuals nationwide. Community pharmacies are rooted in the communities where they are located and are among America’s most accessible health care providers. To learn more, visit www.ncpa.org.
