Antitrust in Oregon
The cornerstone of health information is to share and exchange data among providers, health plans, and other entities, in order to raise quality and lower health care costs. Doing so raises antitrust concerns about what is or is not permissible under federal antitrust laws.1 Antitrust law governs the sharing of information across integrated and nonintegrated entities, and whether such activities restrain trade.2
Oregon law provides that insurers working within the Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Consumer and Business Services or participating in the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange do not constitute a conspiracy or restraint of trade or an illegal monopoly, nor are they carried out for the purposes of lessening competition or fixing prices arbitrarily.3
Footnotes
- 1. Taylor Burke, Lara Cartwright-Smith, et al, The Antitrust Aspects of Health Information Sharing by Public and Private Health Insurers. Aligning Forces for Quality, July, 2009.
- 2. Taylor Burke and Sara Rosenbaum, Accountable Care Organizations: Implications for Antitrust Policy. BNA’s Health Law Reporter, Vol. 19, No. 10, March 11, 2010.
- 3. Or. Rev. Stat. § 413.075
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