The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division created a new task force to examine collusion and monopolies in the healthcare industry.

The Task Force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion (HCMC) “will guide the division’s enforcement strategy and policy approach in healthcare, including by facilitating policy advocacy, investigations and, where warranted, civil and criminal enforcement in healthcare markets,” the agency said Thursday in a press release.

The new task force will consider competition concerns regarding payer-provider consolidation, serial acquisitions, labor and quality of care, medical billing, healthcare information technology services, access to and misuse of healthcare data, and more, the DOJ said.

Led by Katrina Rouse, a prosecutor who joined the Antitrust Division in 2011, the task force will “bring together civil and criminal prosecutors, economists, healthcare industry experts, technologists, data scientists, investigators, and policy advisers … to identify and address pressing antitrust problems in healthcare markets,” the release stated.

The announcement follows the April launch of a portal by the DOJ and two other federal agencies, in which the public can anonymously report instances of potential anticompetitive behavior in the healthcare industry.

Aaron Nicodemus covers regulatory policy and compliance trends for Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass.View full Profile

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