RECENT ARTICLES | EDITOR'S PICKS
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) during the Trump administration decided not to punish TD Auto Finance, a subsidiary of TD Bank (TD), following a years-long investigation into TD Auto Finance, according to an agency document and sources familiar with the matter. The CFPB opened the investigation in 2015 and, as of 2018, a TD […]
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JetBlue’s (JBLU) proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit Airlines (SAVE), which the companies formally inked on July 28 after a months-long takeover dance, faces an uphill climb to close given the carriers’ overlaps on dozens of highly-concentrated U.S. city-pair routes and a...
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JPMorgan Chase Bank (JPM) avoided public sanctions during the Trump administration for allegedly creating fake accounts when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) opted to quietly close the matter instead, according to sources familiar with the matter, adding yet another major...
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The draft regulations of the California Privacy Rights Act contain various provisions that are designed to limit the sharing of consumers’ personal data with third-party companies that do not directly interact with consumers, according to privacy experts interviewed by The Capitol...
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American First Finance, a point-of-sale consumer finance and rent-to-own company recently acquired by payday lender FirstCash (FCFS), operates in California without a nonbank lending license because the company has determined its retail sales installment agreements do not constitute a...
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China’s antitrust authority is preparing to introduce a new online merger-filing system and other measures that could subject deals such as MaxLinear’s (MXL) $3.8 billion buyout of Taiwan’s Silicon Motion Technology (SIMO) to longer reviews and heightened uncertainty, people...
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Marking a return to the region after its 2020 exit, oil and natural gas explorer and producer EOG Resources (EOG) is ramping its drilling program and increasing its acreage on the edge of the Utica Basin’s oil window in Ohio, according to a Capitol Forum investigation. Companies like...
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The European Commission is set to resume its in-depth probe of Illumina’s (ILMN) takeover of cancer-detection test maker Grail in short order, with the Brussels-based regulator expected to seek third-party feedback on a revised set of concessions offered by Illumina, The Capitol Forum...
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AdaptHealth (AHCO), a distributor of durable medical equipment, has a strong appetite for purchasing local and regional competitors, acquiring over 90 medical suppliers over the last four years. These acquisitions and the resulting efforts by the company to cut costs, however, can often...
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DOJ’s concerns about Cargill’s $4.5 billion joint venture with Continental Grain’s Wayne Farms to buy Sanderson Farms (SAFM) have spawned negotiations between senior department officials and the companies over remedies to safeguard wages and conditions post merger for poultry...
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The U.S. antitrust agencies are increasingly fighting reverse clearance battles in which—rather than seeking to gain authority to investigate particular mergers—they’re instead pushing their sister enforcement agency to review the transactions, sources familiar with the matter...
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America’s top patent and pharmaceutical regulators took a joint stand against pricey prescription medication last week, agreeing to work together to keep drugmakers from using “incremental” patents to impede the release of cheaper versions of their products. But their initiative...
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On Friday, the California Privacy Protection Agency initiated the formal rulemaking process to adopt proposed regulations implementing the Consumer Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), which amend and expand upon the California Consumer Privacy Act. The proposed regulations strengthen...
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Elise Baskel took over as President of Perdoceo’s (PRDO) Colorado Technical University (CTU) in January 2022. In short order, Baskel implemented a trading plan known as 10b5-1 to regularly sell off her vested shares in Perdoceo, ultimately selling off 100% of her vested shares over a...
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As Appalachian natural gas companies continue to bring their portfolios to market, buyers have yet to be persuaded on the upside as they expect further volatility into the winter and beyond. Sellers like ExxonMobil (XOM), Tug Hill Operating, Apex Energy, and Olympus Energy have been...
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The financing practices of American First Finance (AFF), a subsidiary of pawn shop operator FirstCash, Inc. (FCFS), could draw the scrutiny of the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, according to an investigation by The Capitol Forum. AFF specializes in point-of-sale...
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The UK economy is exhibiting a “worrying combination of trends”: more concentrated industries, higher prices by way of greater markups – a measure of market power – and the largest companies holding onto their sector-leading positions for longer, according to Mike Walker, the...
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EC conducts fashion sector antitrust raids. The European Commission on Tuesday disclosed it has begun conducting unannounced inspections of fashion-industry companies in several EU member countries. The raids are a preliminary investigative step into suspected anticompetitive practices...
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Senate floor time for antitrust bill means likely passage into law. Axios reported May 19 that Senate Majority Leader is telling colleagues that he will allow for a Senate floor vote on antitrust legislation in early summer. A source close to the legislative process explained that, to...
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The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is still reviewing Ericsson’s (ERIC) proposed $6.2 billion buyout of U.S. cloud communications provider Vonage (VG), said a spokesperson for the Swedish telecommunications company, ending weeks of investor speculation...
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Despite finding TD Bank (TD) wrongly pressured customers into opening accounts and using banking services they didn’t want, a leading bank regulator during the Trump administration opted to give the company a private reprimand rather than a fine for the abuses, according to sources...
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The real history of morale at the FTC: Jim Miller on combative staff early in his tenure. The Office of Personnel Management last week released the results of its 2021 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), which collects feedback from agency employees to detail their views on agency...
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DOJ and FTC officials in recent speeches have touted a historically underutilized prong of the Clayton Act they said could serve to meaningfully broaden the scope of U.S. merger enforcement. The Clayton Act prohibits mergers or acquisitions whose effect “may be substantially to lessen...
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Upstart amended loan modification program in April. According to a new KBRA pre-sale report on Upstart’s (UPST) structured pass through trust series 2022-2a, “In April 2022, Upstart amended its CRB and FinWise loan modification policies. Under the new policy, borrowers that have...
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JetBlue’s (JBLU) unsolicited $3.6 billion offer earlier this month to buy Spirit Airlines (SAVE) does more than inject uncertainty into the discount carrier’s future plans: It complicates Spirit’s role as a leading opponent of JetBlue and American Airlines’ (AAL) Northeast...
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Earlier this year, online used car dealer Carvana (CVNA) announced that it was acquiring the auction business of KAR Global (KAR) for $2.2 billion. The press release accompanying the announcement noted that the acquisition would greatly expand Carvana’s existing auto reconditioning...
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European Commission investigators are stepping up their ongoing probe into allegations Russia’s state-owned Gazprom (GAZP) has abused its dominance on the wholesale natural gas market as political pressure mounts to address surging energy prices in light of the war in Ukraine. The...
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Multiplan (MPLN) says that it provides “independent, fair, and reasonable” pricing for out-of-network healthcare services. Previous Capitol Forum reporting showed that Multiplan’s pricing is not independent, as it can be manipulated by insurers. According to Capitol...
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Just two months before the 2020 election, Trump administration DOJ antitrust division head Makan Delrahim issued a revised merger remedies manual that upended the existing debate about whether—and when—the U.S. agencies would accept private equity divestiture purchasers. Not only...
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Last month, investment research firm Hindenburg Research published a report on the genetic testing company Natera (NTRA) that accused the company of deceptive practices regarding its insurance billings. At the center of the report was the allegation that the company had used a company...
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FTC Chair Lina Khan and DOJ antitrust division head Jonathan Kanter are fellow travelers in the anti-monopoly movement who have used their perches atop the U.S. antitrust agencies to implement much tougher approaches to merger review and remedy negotiations. But although DOJ under...
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Hundreds of UGI Corp.’s (UGI) AmeriGas retail propane customers in at least 39 states have experienced service delays for weeks to months during some of the coldest periods of the winter season, according to a Capitol Forum investigation. Most complaints follow a pattern: vulnerable...
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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is now offering its large employer customers options to transition away from paying high fees for Multiplan’s (MPLN) out-of-network claim pricing services, according to a Capitol Forum investigation. One option for employers is to switch to Naviguard,...
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FTC staff is probing whether Microsoft’s (MSFT) proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (ATVI) would allow the combined company to harm competition in video game streaming markets by withholding gaming titles from rivals, sources familiar with the matter said. As...
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Absent Senate Dems stall Bedoya. Sources supporting Alvaro Bedoya, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the FTC’s third Democratic commissioner slot, were expecting movement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the confirmation front last week. But Schumer needed all 50...
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Case handlers at China’s antitrust authority are evaluating whether a behavioral remedy package that optical components maker II-VI (IIVI) proposed in an effort to clinch its $6.8 billion bid for Coherent (COHR) is sufficient to address industry competition concerns with the tie-up,...
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DOJ attorneys are probing whether guidelines Apple (AAPL) uses to restrict cloud gaming services and so-called super apps’ access to its App Store could harm competition and cement the company’s mobile dominance, sources familiar with the matter said. The department’s investigation,...
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DOJ’s antitrust division is asking whether a Mastercard-backed debit card used by delivery apps like Grubhub, Instacart, Uber Eats (UBER) and DoorDash (DASH) prevent rival debit networks from competing at checkout, according to sources familiar with the probe. At issue is a debit card...
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Microsoft’s (MSFT) pre-installed Defender antivirus protection is at the center of contrasting European phase I merger review outcomes in the UK, Germany and Spain concerning NortonLifeLock’s (NLOK) proposed $8.1 billion acquisition of rival Avast (AVST). The “built-in” nature...
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Google and Meta face parallel probes by EC and CMA over adtech agreement. In a first since Brexit, the European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority on Friday opened parallel investigations into whether Alphabet’s (GOOG) Google and Facebook parent Meta Platforms...
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Change Healthcare (CHNG) plans to sign “in a matter of weeks” a deal to divest a business unit that includes its claims-editing software, eliminating the major horizontal overlap that helped spark DOJ’s suit to block UnitedHealth Group’s proposed $7.8 billion purchase of the...
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Advocates for victims of domestic violence tell The Capitol Forum that they are concerned about the possibility that some victims of domestic violence may unknowingly be exposing sensitive contact information to ZoomInfo’s (ZI) database via the company’s Community Edition service....
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The European Commission is assessing how companies might create cartels using artificial intelligence (AI)—increasingly the foundation of technology and commerce worldwide, The Capitol Forum has learned. Online retailers—think Amazon (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY), for example—as well as...
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Multiplan (MPLN), a company that helps health insurers underpay healthcare provider bills, may have an antitrust issue on its hands, according to experts who reviewed Multiplan practices that came to light during testimony in a recent litigation between a health insurer and emergency...
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Oracle (ORCL) could be the latest company in a long line to test the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s ardor for reviewing mergers in the tech industry. The firm in December said it would buy health technology supplier Cerner Corporation (CERN) for $28.3 billion, but to date the...
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Witnesses against poultry executives charged with fixing prices and rigging bids for broiler chickens were coerced into saying what U.S. investigators wanted to hear, and the government’s star witness was a “liar,” defense attorneys told a jury in Denver on Thursday. FBI agents...
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Executives at poultry producers including Tyson Foods (TSN) and Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC) “weren’t competing, they were cheating,” a prosecutor told a jury in Denver on Wednesday, as the U.S. government opened its arguments in a retrial of 10 current and former managers charged with...
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DOJ staff attorneys are probing whether Cargill’s leading position in chicken feed ingredients would allow the company to harm rivals to its proposed $4.5 billion joint venture with Continental Grain to acquire Sanderson Farms (SAFM) by raising their costs or restricting their supply,...
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The European Commission’s decision to pause its in-depth probe into Illumina’s (ILMN) acquisition of cancer detection test maker Grail just days after the buyer submitted formal concessions designed to address competition misgivings indicates the regulator isn’t dead set on blocking...
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Last November, Oak Street Health (OSH), an operator of primary care clinics for Medicare beneficiaries, disclosed to investors that it had received a civil investigative demand from the Department of Justice. While the company has not shared many details about the scope of the...
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Will Bedoya confirmation require nuclear option? President Joe Biden nominated Alvaro Bedoya to fill the FTC’s third Democratic seat on September 13. And although Bedoya—after a long wait—was expected to finally win Senate confirmation this month, Senator Ben Ray Lujan’s (D-NM)...
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Meta Platforms’ (FB) proposed purchase of virtual reality (VR) fitness startup Within is drawing FTC scrutiny over concerns the deal would harm rival VR headset manufacturers and app developers, sources familiar with the matter said. The deal, announced on October 29, would give...
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Konecranes, Cargotec await EC merger decision. The European Commission could conclude its in-depth investigation into a merger between Konecranes (HEL: KCR) and Cargotec (HEL: CGCBV) as early as this week. The EU watchdog will decide on the deal by March 3, but Phase II decisions often...
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Special Note: Coordination Out Loud is a series of articles that analyze select corporate transcripts through the lens of Joseph Harrington’s landmark paper, “Collusion in Plain Sight: Firms’ Use of Public Announcements to Restrain Competition.” The paper concludes that...
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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is preparing to defend its proposed $7.8 billion Change Healthcare (CHNG) purchase in court as the companies approach the end of their timing agreement with DOJ on Tuesday with no resolution to the department’s antitrust concerns in sight, sources familiar with...
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Public interest, government, and industry groups recently submitted more than 30 amicus briefs to the NLRB in a case called Atlanta Opera that could redefine the distinction between employees and independent contractors, and in turn have significant implications for prominent gig economy,...
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Nvidia terminates Arm merger plan. Nvidia (NVDA) last week abandoned its takeover of British chip designer Arm Holdings following regulatory resistance from competition authorities in Europe and the U.S. Though its review remained at an early stage in China, the State Administration for...
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Privacy advocates and experts interviewed by The Capitol Forum are raising concerns about the data collection practices of ZoomInfo (ZI), an aggregator of business contact data that includes profiles for over 10 million businesses and 125 million business professionals. At issue is...
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InnovAge (INNV), the country’s largest provider of senior healthcare services under the government’s Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, disclosed in its most recent quarterly filing that it received a civil investigative demand from the Department of Justice under the...
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AT&T (T) and Discovery Communications (DISCA) have received letters from DOJ warning the companies that the department is still conducting an antitrust review of their $43 billion plan to merge AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit with Discovery and reserves the right to challenge the...
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The U.S. antitrust agencies formally unveiled their plans to begin rewriting the merger guidelines on January 18—coincidentally, the same day that Microsoft (MSFT) announced its $68.7 billion purchase of video game giant Activision Blizzard (ATVI)—the largest tech transaction of all...
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is becoming a new threat to for-profit colleges as the regulator signaled last week that it will examine institutional practices around lending money to students and collecting on those loans. For-profit institutions that engage in...
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Microsoft’s (MSFT) proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of video game publishing giant Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is poised to face exacting global antitrust reviews focused on a host of horizontal and vertical questions, Capitol Forum analysis indicates. Of course, even if it raised no...
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Talks between Vodafone Group (LON: VOD) and Iliad about merging their operations in Italy seem audacious given European Commission resistance to deals aimed at shrinking the number of mobile network operators (MNOs) in a country. After all, the commission in 2016 prohibited CK Hutchison...
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Several former medical providers and clinical staff at Oak Street Health (OSH), an operator of primary care clinics for Medicare beneficiaries, tell The Capitol Forum that they felt their clinics were often too understaffed to provide appropriate care for patients. These understaffing...
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Prince International is poised to win Phase I EC approval for its $2.1 billion acquisition of specialty materials manufacturer Ferro Corporation (FOE) after offering remedies sufficient to address the agency’s overlap concerns, The Capitol Forum has learned. Prince on November 3...
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Medtronic (MDT) and Intersect ENT (XENT) have begun shopping Intersect’s sinus navigation system and balloon dilation businesses in an effort to head off FTC competition concerns about their proposed $1.1 billion tie-up, sources familiar with the matter said. The companies are vetting...
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Microsoft’s (MSFT) proposed $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications (NUAN) is said to face at least two key headwinds at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA): the complexity of assessing a high-profile deal involving one of the Big Tech giants and the...
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The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) plans to open more investigations this year into transactions that haven’t been filed to the panel, posing a new regulatory roadblock for companies that may underestimate the national security implications of their deals....
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Special Note: Coordination Out Loud is a series of articles that analyze select corporate transcripts through the lens of Joseph Harrington’s landmark paper, “Collusion in Plain Sight: Firms’ Use of Public Announcements to Restrain Competition.” The paper concludes that antitrust...
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The Antitrust Agenda: Joint FTC, DOJ Press Conference on Merger Guidelines Request for Information; Kanter Slate of Hires Expected Soon; Senate Banking Chair Brown, Warren Prod Fed Nominees on Concentration Kanter and Khan Joint Press Conference on Issuing Request for Information to...
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Nvidia defends Arm deal. Nvidia’s (NVDA) response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) in-depth probe of the company’s planned acquisition of British chip designer Arm Holdings articulates a defense that’s well within the mainstream of European antitrust law. Yet...
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Konecranes (HEL: KCR) and Cargotec (HEL: CGCBV) this week lambasted the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) provisional findings that their proposed merger is anticompetitive, calling the UK antitrust watchdog’s view of the $5.3 billion deal “wrong as a matter of fact and...
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Federal bank regulators are examining whether Blue Ridge Bank (BRBS) discriminated against minorities in its mortgage lending business, in an investigation that could stall or even upend the bank’s proposed merger with FVCBankcorp (FVCB), sources familiar with the probe said. Blue...
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Residential customers of Suburban Propane (SPH) and UGI Corp. (UGI) subsidiary AmeriGas in 15 states described sharply rising propane prices as fall turned to winter, leading to significant duress in some customers’ everyday lives, according to a review of online complaints and...
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Bedoya hearing pushed to January 24. Originally, the Senate Commerce Committee’s re-vote on the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya, President Joe Biden’s choice to fill the FTC’s third Democratic seat, was tentatively set for January 12. But, according to a source, the vote has now been...
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Germany targets Google’s market power. Google faces deeper antitrust scrutiny in Germany following a Bundeskartellamt decision last week that the search engine and its parent, Alphabet (GOOG), meet a threshold for new abuse controls meant to speed up investigations. Remedies imposed on...
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DOJ staff is investigating whether Lumentum’s (LITE) proposed $918 million purchase of optical communications rival NeoPhotonics (NPTN) would eliminate existing or potential competition in markets for transceiver modules and the lasers that power them, industry sources said. Both...
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The average number of days that a used vehicle is spending in the inventory of several online car dealers has increased over the past month, according to a Capitol Forum analysis of those companies’ websites. CarMax (KMX), Vroom (VRM), and DriveTime all saw the average age of their...
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Antitrust advocates hoping the FTC will direct its rulemaking attention to banning exclusionary contracts by dominant firms have received encouraging signals in recent weeks. Most obviously, the FTC in a December 10 statement disclosing its 2022 regulatory priorities said it was...
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A Capitol Forum analysis of student use of Chegg’s (CHGG) question and answer service in 2021 finds that the service enjoyed robust growth during the first half of the year. However, as schools returned to in-person learning and schools became more aware of the platform’s ability to...
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The Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing informed InnovAge (INNV), the country’s largest provider of senior healthcare services under the government’s Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, that it was halting new enrollments of Medicaid beneficiaries into...
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Pest control giant Terminix’s (TMX) statements in its 2018 and 2019 annual reports foreshadow what could be the key sticking point in the U.S. government’s antitrust review of the company’s proposed $6.7 billion acquisition by rival Rentokil Initial (RTO:LN). “Competition in...
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China’s antitrust agency, under pressure from a government anti-corruption watchdog, is double-checking senior staff’s work and more generally increasing supervision of its workforce, which could lead to delays in merger and conduct reviews, attorneys said. On Tuesday, the chief...
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Earlier today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified InnovAge (INNV), the largest provider of healthcare services under the government’s Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, that, effective December 23, 2021, “CMS is suspending InnovAge CO’s enrollment...
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Federal officials concerned that the cryptocurrency industry needs urgent oversight are developing plans to let banking regulators use their existing powers to examine crypto companies when they partner with traditional banks, according to financial and regulatory sources familiar with...
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Tim Wu, a special assistant to the president for competition policy, at a recent town hall discussion organized by American Economic Liberties Project identified distribution and vertical integration in alcohol markets as problems that he hoped that an upcoming study and rulemaking from...
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Former doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and medical coders at Oak Street Health (OSH), a provider of primary care for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, tell The Capitol Forum that the company often pressured them to diagnose patients with certain medical conditions despite lacking...
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Facebook parent Meta Platforms (FB) is refusing to guarantee that its advertising algorithms comply with U.S. rules on fair lending, leaving banks and other financial service providers worried that the social media giant could expose them to fines and hits to their reputations, executives...
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Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) proposed $35 billion Xilinx (XLNX) buyout and GlobalWafers’ (TPEX:6488) planned $5.3 billion Siltronic purchase (FRA:WAF) have attained a significance beyond the semiconductor industry as their antitrust reviews in China serve as signposts indicating...
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Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) proposed $35 billion Xilinx (XLNX) buyout and GlobalWafers’ (TPEX:6488) planned $5.3 billion Siltronic purchase (FRA:WAF) have attained a significance beyond the semiconductor industry as their antitrust reviews in China serve as signposts indicating...
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Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) deploy a number of incentive programs to attract drivers. The companies call them bonuses, but some legal experts see the programs as a potential violation of antitrust law. The programs are designed to incentivize drivers to work exclusively for one app during...
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Meeting of G7 competition authorities starts with a bang. Before the heads of the G7 competition authorities kicked off their summit today in London to discuss ways to coordinate their approach to digital markets, the Financial Times broke the news that the CMA is set to prohibit...
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Cartel fines. Companies in breach of EU cartel rules have racked up fines totalling almost 1.4 billion euros ($1.58 billion) so far in 2021, according to updated statistics released last week by the European Commission. That compares to fines amounting to less than 300 million euros ($338...
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Signify Health (SGFY)—a provider of in-home evaluations for individuals covered by Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid, and some Affordable Care Act health plans—emphasizes the increased quality of care its in-home evaluations help bring about. The company claims it helps individuals...
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Earlier this month, Oak Street Health (OSH), a provider of primary health care services for Medicare Advantage participants, disclosed that it had received a civil investigative demand from the Department of Justice. The DOJ requested documents “related to the Company’s relationships...
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President Joe Biden’s July 9 executive order on promoting competition took the alcohol industry by surprise when it singled out beer, wine and spirits as a candidate for new rulemakings, industry sources said. The order calls for the Secretary for Treasury, “in consultation with...
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When Signify Health, Inc. (SGFY) schedules health plan members for a peripheral artery disease (PAD) screening test during an in-home health evaluation, clinicians are required to perform the test for patients who are covered by certain health plans even if they determine it is not...
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Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) bid for rival chipmaker Xilinx (XLNX) received a boost recently when China’s primary tech regulator and some of the companies’ major corporate customers in the country signaled their support for the proposed $35 billion merger, sources familiar with the...
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InnovAge (INNV), the country’s largest provider of senior health services under the government Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), has been under audit by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as state agencies in both California and Colorado for the last...
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Some patients, clinicians, and two former call center employees say some telemarketers for Signify Health Inc (SGFY), a provider of in-home health evaluations (IHEs), engage in aggressive—and, in some cases, misleading—practices to book home visits for seniors enrolled in Medicare...
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After expressing concern that UnitedHealth Group (UNH) through its proposed $7.8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare (CHNG) could unfairly gain access to health insurance rivals’ sought-after claims information, DOJ staff attorneys are posing a surprising question: How special is...
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On Friday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) preliminarily denied a Bloom Energy (BE) proposal to create a microgrid capacity services tariff to provide electricity to the grid during outages. Under its proposal previously reported on by The Capitol Forum, Bloom requested...
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EQT Corp. (EQT), the nation’s largest natural gas producer, owns a higher proportion and count of non-producing wells in the Appalachian Basin than its publicly traded peers, according to a Capitol Forum investigation. Of EQT’s more than 3,600 inactive wells that must be either...
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The FTC and state attorneys general have expressed significant concerns to Great American Outdoors Group and Sportsman’s Warehouse (SPWH) representatives that the retailers’ proposed $785 million merger would harm competition in multiple states, sources familiar with the matter said....
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Special Note: Coordination Out Loud is a series of articles that analyze select corporate transcripts through the lens of Joseph Harrington’s landmark paper, “Collusion in Plain Sight: Firms’ Use of Public Announcements to Restrain Competition.” The paper concludes that antitrust...
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Fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy (BE) faces a phase out of incentives it currently receives under The Republic of Korea’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for its natural gas-powered fuel cells as the country moves towards a Hydrogen Portfolio Standard (HPS), sources familiar with...
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A $4.5 billion bid from Qualcomm (QCOM) and investment firm SSW Partners to acquire Swedish auto tech company Veoneer (VNE) raises a host of jurisdictional and substantive issues that together create timing and outcome questions around the deal, industry sources said. SSW Partners through...
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European Commission and UK Competition and Markets Authority case handlers are grappling with parallel merger investigations into S&P Global’s (SPGI) acquisition of fellow financial data provider IHS Markit (INFO), Nvidia’s (NVDA) purchase of British chip designer Arm Holdings and...
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Online food ordering and food delivery platform DoorDash (DASH) advertises jobs on Facebook, Google and other third-party platforms, telling prospective DoorDash drivers that they can earn “up to” between $22 to $33 an hour, according to job postings The Capitol Forum reviewed. The...
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U.S. regulators are likely to rebuff the kinds of fintech bank charters that the Trump administration had embraced meaning new online lenders must find another way to get a toehold in the traditional lending market, according to industry and regulatory sources familiar with the...
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Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it was resurrecting its Penalty Offense Authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act to put for-profit higher education institutions on notice that the agency would “hit violators with significant financial penalties” of up to...
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A U.S. bank regulator plans to reject a bank charter application from Monzo, an online UK-based lender, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The decision by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is confidential and isn’t expected to be disclosed for...
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In a unanimous decision last month, a federal advisory panel voted to recommend that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS) raise the reimbursement rate that ambulatory surgical centers would receive for surgeries that insert stents into the eye of glaucoma patients to drain...
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Months after announcing an agreement in principle, the Massachusetts Attorney General and Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC) settled the Attorney General’s lawsuit regarding the company’s business practices in Massachusetts. The company has agreed to pay $27.2 million to an...
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S&P Global (SPGI) and IHS Markit (INFO) don’t anticipate offering remedies beyond the divestiture of businesses they’ve already proposed selling to News Corp. (NWSA) to secure competition approvals for their $44 billion transaction, The Capitol Forum has learned. The companies...
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Ahead of last year’s federal benefits open enrollment, Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program (BCBS FEP) the largest provider of benefits to federal employees, added clarifying language to its policy brochure to reiterate that it does not cover over-the-counter hearing aids. A...
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This article has been updated to include a comment from CMS and to clarify the commenting period for each proposal. When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid released its proposed 2022 reimbursement rates for medical procedures, ophthalmologists around the country were surprised to find...
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The entity created in a bankruptcy reorganization to operate and fund the retirement of APA Corp’s (APA) legacy assets in the Gulf of Mexico may face more than $400 million in revenue shortfalls from lower-than-forecast production by 2025, according to The Capitol Forum’s...
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China’s two biggest e-commerce websites have agreed to settle a closely watched lawsuit in which JD.com (JD) accused Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) of engaging in monopolistic behavior and abusing its market dominance, sources familiar with the matter said. A settlement in the “great...
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DOJ staff is leaning toward recommending that department leadership clear S&P Global’s (SPGI) $44 billion bid for IHS Markit (INFO) now that the financial data service companies have lined up News Corp. (NWSA) as the divestiture buyer for IHS Markit’s energy pricing service,...
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DOJ’s antitrust division is probing whether Visa (V) is pushing anti-fraud tools that help the company maintain its dominance in the online debit marketplace, sources familiar with the investigation said. Online shopping fraud has steadily climbed in recent years with losses on debit...
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On an internal staff call earlier today, InnovAge (INNV) management notified doctors and nurses of at least a dozen areas of improvement in its Colorado operations, citing issues found in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid audit of the company’s Colorado operations. InnovAge, which...
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Several for-profit higher education companies that have closed schools in the past decade could face higher closed school discharge obligations after Education Secretary Miguel Cardona exercised his authority to extend the closed school discharge period for former ITT Technical Institute...
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On May 27, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration wrote to Penumbra (PEN) that it was “evaluating a potential post-market safety concern associated with use of the Penumbra JET 7 and 7X Reperfusion Catheters,” which are used to clear blood clots in the brains of stroke patients....
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Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT) and other megaretailers could face renewed antitrust scrutiny and lawsuits under quiet moves by the Biden administration to resuscitate a Depression-era law meant to prevent large corporate buyers from purchasing goods at cheaper prices than smaller rivals...
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Emails between the Food and Drug Administration and Penumbra (PEN) last year show that the government had concerns regarding how the company was informing doctors of the risks related to the use of its Jet 7 Xtra Flex catheter, which at that point had been involved in the death of at...
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On May 11, 2021, the Department of Education informed Perdoceo Education Corporation (PRDO) CEO Todd Nelson that it had several thousand borrower defense applications against the company’s schools alleging “misrepresentations concerning transferability of credits, accreditation, job...
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Genetic testing company Natera (NTRA) allows expecting parents to pay a “prompt payment discount” for its Panorama prenatal test, often discounting the price from $795 or more to $249 if the customers pay within 30 days of receiving the bill. That roughly 70% discount, however, likely...
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Eargo (EAR), a manufacturer of completely-in-canal (CIC) hearing aids, promises customers a 45-day risk-free trial period as well as offering up to 0% interest financing for its hearing aids. A Capitol Forum investigation, however, finds that the company regularly fails to honor the trial...
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In four of the nine East Coast states in which Bloom Energy (BE) operates, the company faces hurdles to participate in state-funded incentive programs designed to encourage renewable energy development, as states favor greener alternatives and have established other parameters that Bloom...
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DOJ is poised to clear Salesforce’s (CRM) proposed $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack (WORK) by the end of this month, sources familiar with the matter said. After an in-depth review in which the department demanded extensive business records from the merging parties and sent to...
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The European Commission recently launched two in-depth probes into mergers involving the proposed combination of direct competitors, ticking the most common box for heightened regulatory scrutiny in Brussels. But in the months ahead, a vertical deal is set to join those proposed tie-ups...
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The office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) at the Department of Education recently shifted resources to focus on borrower defense to repayment claims made against open institutions, according to a spokesperson for the Department. The borrower defense applications have been submitted by...
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Recently, Taboola (TBLA) said in an SEC filing that the company and the ad-tech industry were the subject of a DOJ criminal labor antitrust investigation. On Tuesday, Outbrain—Taboola’s closest rival, which is planning to go public—said in an SEC filing the department’s antitrust...
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The Department of Education is adjudicating borrower defense to repayment claims submitted by former students of Zovio Inc (ZVO), Strategic Education Inc (STRA), and Lincoln Educational Services Corp (LINC). Individuals whose borrower defense applications are approved will be granted...
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DOJ’s suit to block Aon’s (AON) purchase of rival insurance broking giant Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) won a potentially sympathetic ear last week when D.C. District Court Judge Reggie Walton was assigned to oversee the case against the $30 billion merger, attorneys familiar with the...
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This article has been updated to include the companies and DOJ’s arguments supporting their positions. DOJ staff informed Aon (AON) and Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) representatives at a meeting last week that the companies’ remedy offer doesn’t sufficiently address the...
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Aon (AON) has expanded a prominent trial lawyer’s role in engaging with DOJ on its proposed $30 billion Willis Tower Watson (WLTW) buyout, indicating the insurance brokerage is preparing for litigation even as it participates in settlement talks with the department, sources familiar...
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Regulators will conduct a focused audit of InnovAge’s (INNV) programs in Colorado later this month, according to a source familiar with the matter, with auditors investigating the quality and timeliness of care that InnovAge provides. The new audit comes after regulators in California...
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The UK’s competition watchdog last week intensified scrutiny of Facebook’s (FB) dominance in digital advertising, further complicating the authority’s ongoing review of the social network giant’s completed acquisition of Giphy. The Competition and Market Authority antitrust...
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China’s antitrust authority is close to wrapping up the initial phase of its probe into online food-delivery giant Meituan (3690: HK), sources familiar with the matter said. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on April 26 launched its investigation into the Hong...
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Aon (AON) has proposed to DOJ staff an offer to divest two pieces of its health benefits business to address the department’s antitrust concerns with the insurance brokerage’s planned $30 billion buyout of rival Willis Towers Watson (WLTW), sources familiar with the matter said. But...
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Aon (AON) in a statement today said it would divest for $1.4 billion its U.S. retirement consulting and retiree health exchange businesses to two separate buyers, responding to DOJ antitrust concerns about the insurance brokerage’s proposed $30 billion buyout of rival Willis Towers...
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Aon (AON) has proposed to DOJ staff an offer to divest two pieces of its health benefits business to address the department’s antitrust concerns with the insurance brokerage’s planned $30 billion buyout of rival Willis Towers Watson (WLTW), sources familiar with the matter said. But...
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As DOJ’s review of Aon’s (AON) proposed Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) buyout enters its late stages, the department is pursuing a dual-track strategy, engaging in settlement talks with the insurance brokerages while stepping up trial preparations in case it decides to challenge the $30...
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Yesterday, Colorado state regulators in coordination with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initiated a surprise audit of InnovAge (INNV) facilities in the state. InnovAge’s facility in Sacramento, California also received a surprise visit by regulators. InnovAge is the...
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Yesterday, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC) entered into a stipulation granting the company until June 3 to file and serve an answer to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s complaint marking the fifth extension granted to the company. It is...
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A bill in the Tennessee legislature that would establish a program to identify uninsured motor vehicles will not be reintroduced until the 2022 legislative session, dealing a blow to Rekor Systems (REKR), which hopes to contract with the state for the new program. The bill is currently...
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Opponents of Aon’s (AON) proposed Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) acquisition and other industry participants are divided over whether the insurance brokerages’ divestiture plan would address enforcers’ antitrust concerns with the $30 billion deal, sources familiar with the matter said....
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Six current and recent employees of InnovAge (INNV), the country’s largest provider of senior healthcare under the government’s Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), tell The Capitol Forum that the company is enrolling patients into its program at a rate that far...
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The European Commission is set to approve remedies proposed by Aon (AON) to secure regulatory approval for the company’s $30 billion acquisition of rival Willis Towers Watson (WLTW), The Capitol Forum has learned. EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager is said to be on board with the...
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A bill to establish a traffic camera program to track uninsured motorists in Texas will likely not make it out of committee in the state legislature before an important May 10 deadline, according to a political activist familiar with Texas legislative issues. A similar piece of...
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On April 29, Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC) said that it had reached an agreement in principle to settle its pending litigation with Massachusetts and as a result it recognized a contingent loss of $27.2 million in Q1 2021. Some observers have interpreted Credit Acceptance’s...
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In Pennsylvania, Diversified Gas and Oil (LON: DGOC) brought 482 non-producing wells online in 2019, 268 of which reported exactly the threshold level of production that exempts the company from a tighter retirement schedule—100 thousand cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas—pursuant to its...
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Earlier this morning, Medicare Administrative Contractor Novitas released an update to its 2021 fee schedule, increasing the rate for electrocardiographic monitoring (ECG) and analysis by roughly 250% and making the new prices retroactive to January 1. The new rate, however, is still...
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Genetic testing company Natera, Inc (NTRA) is under investigation by the Georgia Department of Community Health for potentially overbilling the state’s Medicaid program, according to a source familiar with the matter. The opening of the investigation comes after a Capitol Forum report...
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German medical device maker Siemens Healthineers (ETR: SHL) is close to securing approval from China’s antitrust authority for its proposed $16.4 billion acquisition of U.S. radiation oncology giant Varian Medical Systems (VAR), sources familiar with the matter said. Approval from the...
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As InnovAge (INNV), the country’s largest for-profit provider of senior day care and health services under the Medicare and Medicaid PACE program, seeks to expand nationally, former employees, regulators, and families of patients are raising concerns about the company’s business...
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As part of its ongoing investigation into Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC), the New York Attorney General notified the company in November that it is considering bringing claims under the New York Martin Act in connection with the company’s origination and securitization practices,...
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Salesforce (CRM) is said to remain confident of avoiding a UK Competition and Markets Authority probe into its planned $27.7 billion acquisition of messaging platform Slack (WORK) despite the U.S. DOJ’s recent decision to open an in-depth, second request review into the transaction. The...
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Salesforce (CRM) is said to remain confident of avoiding a UK Competition and Markets Authority probe into its planned $27.7 billion acquisition of messaging platform Slack (WORK) despite the U.S. DOJ’s recent decision to open an in-depth, second request review into the transaction. The...
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Over the course of two years, genetic testing company Natera (NTRA) billed Georgia’s state Medicaid program more than 6,700 times for one expensive and complex test for rare genetic disorders, receiving over $4.2 million dollars from the state and its managed care organizations. A...
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Several upcoming federal reports and investigations into aerospace parts supplier TransDigm (TDG) as well as investigations into government contracting practices more broadly could increase focus on the company as Congress sits down to negotiate the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization...
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The Kentucky Attorney General is currently investigating Natera’s (NTRA) billing practices with the state’s Medicaid program, according to that office’s response to a records request and a source familiar with the matter. The Capitol Forum had requested any documents related to...
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The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Studies has declined to approve a new, higher reimbursement rate for electrocardiographic monitoring, according to the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule published today. Instead, CMS is retaining the de facto pricing for ECG monitoring negotiated between...
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The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will likely not publish the final Physician Fee Schedule until December 1 or 2, according to a source familiar with CMS processes. The agency is currently reviewing its proposed Physician Fee Schedule for 2021, which sets reimbursement...
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Data submitted to the FDA’s device malfunction database, known as MAUDE, over the past three months indicates that Penumbra’s (PEN) Jet 7 catheter continues to break under routine use, even after the company’s July 27 letter to physicians. Penumbra’s July 27 letter warned...
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Data submitted to the FDA’s device malfunction database, known as MAUDE, over the past three months indicates that Penumbra’s (PEN) Jet 7 catheter continues to break under routine use, even after the company’s July 27 letter to physicians. Penumbra’s July 27 letter warned...
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On August 4, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its annual update to the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), which establishes reimbursement rates for services covered under the federal health plans. The proposed 2021 rates include new Category I reimbursement codes for...
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Yesterday, three doctors in Singapore published an article in the American Journal of Neuroradiology detailing two device malfunctions involving Penumbra’s (PEN) Jet 7 catheter titled “Can a Stent Retriever Damage the JET 7 Reperfusion Catheter?” The Capitol Forum has previously...
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In response to an increase in injuries and deaths involving Penumbra’s (PEN) Jet 7 XTRA FLEX catheter, the company sent a letter to doctors cautioning them against injecting contrast media, used to map the arteries of the brain during blood clot removal procedures, through the catheter....
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Ahead of the 2019 annual enrollment period, Total Insurance Brokers (TIB) employed various strategies to manipulate test scores to ensure that its brokers obtained a passing score on the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Medicare examination, according to a Capitol Forum...
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The Federal Trade Commission is set to vote to accept a consent order clearing the way for AbbVie (ABBV) to close its $63 billion acquisition of biopharma giant Allergan (AGN), sources familiar with the matter said. The final commission vote is expected within the next few days, the...
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An FTC settlement package that would clear the way for AbbVie (ABBV) to close its $63 billion acquisition of biopharma giant Allergan (AGN) has won a positive recommendation from Bureau of Competition Director Ian Conner and is now at the commission level awaiting a vote, sources familiar...
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A coalition of consumer groups and unions today wrote Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons requesting that the commission secure additional behavioral relief before voting out a consent order clearing AbbVie’s (ABBV) $63 billion acquisition of biopharma giant Allergan (AGN). In...
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FTC commissioners today plan to vote on whether to sue to block Illumina’s (ILMN) proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of Pacific Biosciences (PACB), a source familiar with the matter said. The companies’ representatives met last week with individual commissioners to make their case but...
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FTC commissioners have no more questions for Roche (SWX: ROG) or Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) regarding their proposed $4.3 billion tie-up as anticipation builds about the agency’s pending decision, sources familiar with the matter said. Typically, the lack of commissioner questions...
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The FTC is preparing to sue next month in its administrative court to block Illumina’s (lLMN) proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of Pacific Biosciences (PACB), sources familiar with the matter said. For some time agency staff has been building a case, deposing third parties and lining up...
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FTC commissioners are set to vote as soon as this week on Roche’s (SWX: ROG) proposed $4.3 billion Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) acquisition, sources familiar with the matter said. The vote would occur several weeks after agency staff recommended the commission clear the deal...
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FTC staff reviewing Roche’s (SWX: ROG) proposed Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) acquisition have recommended the $4.3 billion deal be cleared unconditionally, sources familiar with the matter said. The staff reached the conclusion after an in-depth investigation that included issuing civil...
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As the FTC’s review of Illumina’s (ILMN) proposed $1.2 billion Pacific Biosciences (PACB) acquisition enters its late stages, agency staff has deposed third parties and lined up potential witnesses for trial, indicating the gene-sequencing firms haven’t convinced staff that their...
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The UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) June move to start an inquiry into Roche’s (SWX: ROG) $4.3 billion acquisition of Spark (ONCE) not only creates a new competition hurdle to the deal’s close, but could also bolster the U.S. FTC’s ability to take a tough line on...
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The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s new audit of TransDigm (TDG) could find that the company earned excessive profits and uncover contracting practices that have previously drawn scrutiny and the ire of both members of Congress and the Department of Defense,...
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In conditionally clearing Bayer’s $66 billion acquisition of agrochemical rival Monsanto, DOJ endorsed a settlement that deviates somewhat from its commitment to accept only straightforward and self-executing structural remedies. But in addressing the proposed deal, antitrust division...
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The Defense Department is leaning toward recommending Northrop Grumman’s proposed Orbital ATK acquisition be conditionally cleared by the Federal Trade Commission, sources familiar with the matter said. FTC staff is nearing the end of its antitrust review of the two defense...
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Company Update Tenants who lease houses from Invitation Homes, a leader in the single-family rental industry, are deceptively put into dwellings with maintenance issues, code violations and life-threatening safety risks, according to interviews with twenty current and former tenants and...
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The European Commission (EC) is on track to conditionally clear the proposed Bayer/Monsanto merger on March 21, according to sources familiar with the matter. The date is sooner than many expected because the EC has until April 5 to decide. But European antitrust enforcers, in...
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Company Update In our continuing investigation into whether Health Insurance Innovations (HII) sales representatives have misled potential customers, The Capitol Forum placed a series of calls over the past two weeks to numbers associated with HII-contracted insurance producers. In...
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Bayer, BASF and DOJ staff are nearing the final stages of negotiating an agreement to ensure BASF will emerge as a strong No. 4 competitor in U.S. seeds and crop protection if the department clears the Bayer/Monsanto merger, sources familiar with the matter said. The staff plans to...
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Third-Party Update Health Insurance Innovations (HII) sells about 70 percent of the policies it administers through a network of independent call centers, CEO Gavin Southwell in an interview we conducted late last year. The policies, which HII administers, are underwritten by insurance...
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DOJ staff reviewing Bayer’s bid for Monsanto are contacting agricultural industry players in search of farmers to testify or give statements about how the seed sector’s lack of competition has harmed their businesses, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Department...
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Company Update Health Insurance Innovations (HII) is a third-party administrator (TPA) that functions as a middleman between health insurers and customers looking for affordable health insurance plans. The short-term medical policies, ancillary insurance, and health benefit plans HII...
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On May 19th, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Glenn Fine, the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Defense, requesting that Mr. Fine “expeditiously open an investigation into TransDigm if you have not already done so.” Senator Warren’s letter also states that as a...
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Pricing Analysis In order to provide more insight into TransDigm’s acquisition strategy, we attempted to quantify how a company’s pricing for military spare parts changes after TransDigm acquires the company. Using contract data from Haystack Gold and a sample of 2,156 parts (as well...
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