DaVita has caught the FTC's attention. Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission has the dialysis industry in its crosshairs after it finalized restrictions on DaVita's latest deal in Utah.
The big picture: The FTC under Lina Khan has been heavily focused on antitrust authority over Big Tech, but the agency also has taken more critical looks at health care deals that further hurt competition and could lead to higher prices.
Details: The FTC's agreement allows DaVita to purchase 18 dialysis clinics owned by University of Utah Health, but three acquired clinics in the Provo, Utah area must be divested.
- DaVita also can't buy another clinic in Utah for 10 years unless it gets prior FTC approval, nor can it prevent employees at the acquired clinics from jumping to jobs at competing dialysis clinics.
- If the FTC didn't impose these conditions, DaVita would have owned seven of the eight dialysis clinics in the Provo area.
- DaVita did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Between the lines: It's not a surprise DaVita attempted to expand its hold in Utah's dialysis market.
- Two-thirds of Utah's population has commercial health insurance, and commercial insurers pay four times as much for dialysis than Medicare, the main program for people with kidney failure.