Federal Trade Commission and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Penn State Hershey Medical Center and PinnacleHealth

In May 2016, the U.S. District Court for Central Pennsylvania denied the preliminary injunction sought by the Federal Trade Commission in Federal Trade Commission and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Penn State Hershey Medical Center and PinnacleHealth System. Compass Lexecon Senior Consultant Professor Robert Willig was the sole economic expert for the defense in the matter, the result of which marked the FTC’s first loss in a hospital merger challenge in more than a decade. Professor Willig’s expert report and trial testimony were central to the Court’s Opinion, for example, providing the support for “salient facts controvert the FTC’s assertion that GAC services are ‘inherently local,’ and strongly indicate that the FTC has created a geographic market that is too narrow because it does not appropriately account for where the Hospitals, particularly Hershey, draw their business[]” and for “Th[e FTC’s] line of reasoning defies logic. . . . [C]onstruction [of a new facility] would undoubtedly strain Hershey’s financial resources, resulting in either increased charges for services or less investment in quality improvements.” Professor Willig was supported by a Washington-based team led by Bryan Keating and Loren Smith that included Jeff Raileanu, Ka Hei Tse, Piyal Hyder, Mihir Narain, Genaro Marquez, Andrea Ortu, Linh Dinh, Sahdia Kahn, Laura Schiemichen and Anh Dao. Compass Lexecon worked closely with the Jones Day legal team led by Julia E. McEvoy, Toby Singer, Michael A. Gleason, Joseph M. Cardosi and Alisha M. Crovetto.