UK: Healthcare groups brace for new watchdog’s crackdown

As the new Competition and Markets Authority commenced operations this week, reports say members of the healthcare community are already anticipating a forced breakup of major providers in efforts to boost competition.

HCA International and BMI Healthcare, two of the largest providers in the market, are bracing for the CMA to rule that they must divest hospitals as the watchdog took over previous inquiries into the market by the former Competition Commission, which released proposals earlier this year into remedies to an anticompetitive industry.

US-based HCA could be forced to sell two of its hospitals in London; those hospitals, reports say, make up one-third of its operations in the UK. Meanwhile, BMI could be forced to sell seven hospitals of the 66 it currently owns.

While the healthcare groups are expecting the rulings to require hospital sales, reports say the companies will likely appeal any such order to the Competition Appeals Tribunal.

CMA announces new research project

The CMA announced Tuesday it will implement a new research project that uses “big data” to identify industries in which competition could be stifled in online markets by traditional-market rivals.

CMA chairman David Currie spoke at the European Consumer Summit Tuesday to announce the project, announcing the use of “’big data’ techniques to identify sectors of the economy where online commerce is developing more slowly than might be expected, so it can investigate whether this is because incumbents have acted anticomeptitively to block entry or innovation by online competitors or innovators.”

Full Content: The Telegraph and DealBook

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