DOJ/FTC HEARINGS ON HEALTH CARE
AND COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY

Schedule For April 23 – 25 And May 7 – 8, 2003 Sessions

WASHINGTON, D.C.– The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission today released a detailed schedule for the sessions of their joint hearings on health care and competition law and policy to be held April 23 – 25 and May 7 – 8, 2003. These hearings will be held at the FTC Conference Center at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. Morning sessions are held from 9:15 a.m. until approximately 12:15 p.m. Afternoon sessions are held from 2:00 p.m. until approximately 5:00 p.m.

These sets of hearings focus on health insurance-related issues. The schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, April 23

Health Insurance Monopoly Issues – Market Definition

Health Insurance Monopoly Issues – Competitive Effects

Thursday, April 24

Health Insurance Monopoly Issues – Entry and Efficiencies

Hospital Insurance Monopsony – Market Definition

Friday, April 25

Hospital Insurance Monopsony – Competitive Effects

Hospital Insurance Monopsony – Competitive Effects

Wednesday, May 7

Health Insurance/Providers –Countervailing Market Power

Most Favored Nation Clauses

Thursday, May 8

Physician Hospital Organizations

As noted in The Federal Register notice announcing this event, any interested person may submit written comments responsive to any of the topics to be addressed. Comments directed at a particular subject considered during a particular session of hearings must be submitted no later than 45 days after the date of that specific hearing session. Comments on broader subjects within the general scope of the hearings may be submitted at any time after the publication of this notice, but no later than November 28, 2003.

Written comments should be submitted in both hard copy and electronic form. Six hard copies of each submission should be addressed to Donald S. Clark, Office of the Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Submissions should be captioned: "Comments Regarding Hearings on Health Care and Competition Law and Policy." Electronic submissions may be sent by electronic mail to healthcare@ftc.gov. Alternatively, electronic submissions may be filed on a 3-1/2 inch computer disk with a label stating the name of the submitter and the name and version of the word processing program used to create the document.

Information about the health care hearings is available on the websites for the hearings, http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/hchearing.htm and http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/healthcarehearings/, and from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

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