As a predictor of post-merger price competition, “willingness to pay” is a potentially powerful tool that federal antitrust agencies are increasingly relying on when assessing proposed hospital mergers. The agencies’ increasing reliance on the technique means that a thorough understanding of it is essential for attorneys involved in hospital merger transactions.
New vertical merger test
In vertical mergers, antitrust agencies often focus on the merging firms’ incentives to foreclose inputs to rivals when analyzing competitive effects. Less...