The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed its provisional decision in its remittal investigation not to require HCA International to divest one of its hospitals. The decision comes four years after the Competition Commission started a market investigation into private healthcare in April 2012, which reported in April 2014.
In its Private Healthcare Market Investigation final report the CMA required HCA to sell 1 or 2 of its hospitals in London. Following an appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the CMA acknowledged errors in its analysis and asked the CAT to remit parts of the findings affected by the errors back to the CMA. The CMA has now decided that extra remedies beyond those imposed in its 2014 Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order including a divestiture of hospitals by HCA in London’s private healthcare market would not be proportionate.
The 2014 Order includes measures that (i) enable the CMA to review transactions between NHS Trusts and private hospital operators to operate private patient units based on a competition test; (ii) prohibit and restrict certain clinician incentives; and (iii) require the collection and publication of information on the performance of private healthcare facilities and consultants and on consultants' fees.
However, this may not be quite the end of the CMA’s investigation into the sector. On 25 July 2016 the Court of Appeal gave its judgment rejecting a challenge by the Federation of Independent Practitioners Organisations (FIPO) against certain aspects of the CMA’s final report. The Court necessarily based its judgment on the facts and evidence available to the CMA at the time of its final report. The fee information remedy requiring the publication of consultants’ fees has been suspended during the FIPO appeal. Even though the appeal has been unsuccessful the CMA will need to be satisfied that implementation of the fee information remedy is appropriate in the present economic circumstances.
CMA press release, 5 September 2016
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-publishes-final-report-on-private-healthcare-remittal
In its Private Healthcare Market Investigation final report the CMA required HCA to sell 1 or 2 of its hospitals in London. Following an appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the CMA acknowledged errors in its analysis and asked the CAT to remit parts of the findings affected by the errors back to the CMA. The CMA has now decided that extra remedies beyond those imposed in its 2014 Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order including a divestiture of hospitals by HCA in London’s private healthcare market would not be proportionate.
The 2014 Order includes measures that (i) enable the CMA to review transactions between NHS Trusts and private hospital operators to operate private patient units based on a competition test; (ii) prohibit and restrict certain clinician incentives; and (iii) require the collection and publication of information on the performance of private healthcare facilities and consultants and on consultants' fees.
However, this may not be quite the end of the CMA’s investigation into the sector. On 25 July 2016 the Court of Appeal gave its judgment rejecting a challenge by the Federation of Independent Practitioners Organisations (FIPO) against certain aspects of the CMA’s final report. The Court necessarily based its judgment on the facts and evidence available to the CMA at the time of its final report. The fee information remedy requiring the publication of consultants’ fees has been suspended during the FIPO appeal. Even though the appeal has been unsuccessful the CMA will need to be satisfied that implementation of the fee information remedy is appropriate in the present economic circumstances.
CMA press release, 5 September 2016
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-publishes-final-report-on-private-healthcare-remittal
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