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

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 9 – 11, 2003. These hearings will be held at the FTC Conference Center at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. The hearing session on April 9, 2003 will begin at 2:00 p.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. The hearing sessions on April 10-11, 2003 will begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at 5:00 p.m.

These specific hearings focus on hospital-related issues. The schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, April 9

None

Hospitals – Horizontal Networks and Vertical Arrangements

Thursday, April 10

Hospitals – Nonprofit Status

Hospital Joint Ventures and Joint Operating Agreements

Friday, April 11

A Tale of Two Cities: Little Rock

Hospitals – Post-Merger Conduct

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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