Administration actions target health care competition, lower drug costs  

The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission Dec. 7 announced several new actions to promote competition in health care and support lower prescription drug costs. Among other things, the agencies will seek public input on the impact of private equity and corporate control in health care to identify areas for future regulation and enforcement; improve information sharing to better identify anticompetitive “rollups” that evade antitrust scrutiny; and appoint an HHS chief competition officer and health care chief counsels at DOJ and FTC. 

In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today released ownership data for Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics and plans to seek public input early next year to strengthen data and transparency in the Medicare Advantage market, the Administration said. The Department of Commerce and HHS also proposed a framework to promote access to taxpayer-funded inventions, including medical treatments.