...Article/Case Law Search Tina Thomas HCS/430 - Legal Issues in Health Care: Regulation and Compliance February 28, 2011 William Bross Article/Case Law Search The main function of the anti trust law in health care is to help keep the industry competitive and open so that any means of delivery service that are new or any new financing of health care services are able to compete for the acceptance by any purchasers. By developing these arrangements helps the competition such as providers, insurers, and any others and this is important to help prevent the fixing of prices, and any other agreements that may be allocated among the competitors. By enforcing the anti trust laws federally has helped to facilitate the delivery of health care systems that is efficient and has helped to challenge any efforts of any anticompetitive providers in health care delivery. Anti trust laws are a body of laws that help to prohibit any anti competitive behavior and any business practices that are unfair. These laws are made to help encourage competition in the workplace. These anti trust laws make many practices illegal and they may hurt consumers and businesses and can violate ethical behavior standards. In order to prevent failure within the market there are regulators along with candidates that are private which helps to apply the anti trust laws. These anti trust laws are supposed to help produce prices that are low and also make services and good better. These laws continue to be a...
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...Antitrust law is the law of competition, and it is perhaps the least understood law of all. This article provides an overview and explanation of the essential principals of antitrust law, along with comments on certain recurring themes and recent developments in the voluminous case law by which the courts have struggled to give meaning and practical effect to the principal antitrust statutes. What Is Antitrust Law? Broadly speaking, antitrust laws seek to promote fair competition on the merits and to protect consumers and wronged competitor businesses from anti-competitive business practices — practices undertaken in effort to undermine competitive commercial behavior in a given market or line of commerce. The antitrust laws therefore forbid the wrongful acquisition or preservation of monopoly power, the abuse of monopoly power in order to establish a new monopoly, and concerted restraints of trade (i.e., business practices undertaken by two or more firms that improperly stifle or suppress “competition on the merits” in a given market). They also govern proposed mergers and acquisitions that are sufficiently large to constitute a threat to competition, and they address commercial practices that pose an arguable danger to competition on the merits in a properly defined antitrust market. The Principal Antitrust Offenses. Antitrust law is the law of competition. It is concerned with wrongs committed against competition on the merits in a given line of commerce or market. It is...
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...Business Laws…Effective or Not? Chamberlain College of Nursing BUSN115 Introduction to Business and Technology Professor Tammy Lewis Spring, 2014 Business Laws…Effective or Not? The question this week that we are discussing is that the United States has several laws that are intended to further fair, balanced, and competitive business practices. Are such laws effective? If not, why? There are several laws in place such as the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. Anti-Trust laws limit what businesses can and cannot do to ensure that all competitors have an equal chance of succeeding. (Bovee and Thill p. 39). We will discuss each of these laws throughout the paper and hopefully answer the question that was originally asked. The United States laws that are in place currently are typical effective as control measures to ensure fair business practices are followed. Determining the success or failure of specific legislation or regulations can be relative to what angle you are looking from. With anti-trust laws we are insured safeness from unreasonable trade, price discrimination and unfair and anti-competitive business practices. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act In 1890, Congress enacted the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which is a law designed to restore competition and free enterprise by breaking up monopolies. The Act of July 2, 1890 (Sherman Anti-Trust Act) states that: “This Act outlaws all contracts, combinations...
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...The regulation of Monopolies & the Microsoft Trial Research Paper Macroeconomics By: Ashleigh Magliano Introduction: Larger companies can become big threats to other smaller companies that are in a given market due to their power and innovation. Sometimes this can become more than a threat, and it turns to no competition at all between the markets due to the monopolization of a company. A company becomes a monopoly when it gains the control of the industry and has obtained the ability to change the output prices in that specific industry. With such power this opposes a threat to other businesses. The government has set up specific regulations for monopolies to control what they sell, how they sell it, and what services are allowed for consumers. The importance of regulating monopolies is to keep the market alive, to allow freedom for other smaller businesses. This keeps up competition in the market, and also keeps the monopolies from doing anything unreasonable. This has led to numerous trials on major companies, one of the biggest cases would be the trial against Microsoft INC. Acts for Regulating Monopolies: In 1890 the Sherman Antitrust act was put into effect, named after the Senator of Ohio, John Sherman and was the first component for congress to prohibit trust.(General Records of the United States Government, Record number 11) The Sherman Act intended by congress to help keep up competition in markets. Unfortunately the act was written to vague there were...
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...Introduction When it comes to competition many enterprises will do whatever it takes to stay on top. The United States has laws that are ordinarily used as a way to make sure that honest and fair practices are followed in business organizations. These laws are very important and should be strictly adhered to so that the organization's integrity stays intact while at the same time they continue increasing their customers and profits. The United States as well as many other countries has many antitrust laws that forbids acts or understandings that can get rid of or deter fair competition, these laws also forbids the maltreatment of a dominant industry position, restraint or misrepresent commerce, hold prices by artificial means, or bring forward a monopoly. I will be writing about antitrust laws and the famous Microsoft case to demonstrate how business ethics and fair practices are important in business, it’s not only right thing to do but can also be beneficial to the company, clients and employees....
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...HCA642 Healthcare Policy, Law, and Ethics Issue The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the State of Missouri are seeking a preliminary injunction under section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. Section 53(b), which “authorizes the Commission to seek preliminary and permanent injunctions to remedy any provision of law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. Under the first proviso of Section 13(b), whenever the Commission has ‘reason to believe’ that any party ‘is violating, or is about to violate’ a provision of law enforced by the Commission, the Commission may ask the district court to enjoin the allegedly unlawful conduct, pending completion of an FTC administrative proceeding to determine whether the conduct is unlawful. Further, under the second proviso of Section 13(b), ‘in proper cases’, the Commission may seek, and the court may grant, a permanent injunction” (www.ftc.gov). This particular injunction is meant to refrain the enjoining of the merger of two commercial hospitals in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Lucy Lee Hospital wishes to purchase Doctors Regional Medical Center (DRMC). In this case, the plaintiffs, FTC and State of Missouri, argue that the proposed merger would considerably lessen the competition between other acute care hospitals in the Poplar Bluff area (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case). The question stands: is the proposed merger between Lucy Lee Hospital and DRMC a violation of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C. Section...
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...Laws in the United States The United States has various laws in place, which are anticipated to foster fair, balanced, and competitive business practices. These laws are placed as control measures to help safeguard fair business practices. With anti-trust laws in place we are then warranted a since of security from unfair and anti-competitive business practices, unreasonable trade, and price discrimination. As though anything new that is introduced, laws and or regulations when newly introduced can become the product of skepticism. Typically the judgmental ears question the new laws purpose and what influence it will have, even though these new laws may be intended to foster fair and or competitive business practices. Although most of us do not recognize their value, anti-trust laws affect our daily lives in a multiplicity of ways. In 1890 Congress ordained the Sherman Antitrust Act, a law designed to restore competition and free enterprise by breaking up monopolies. This Act July 2. 1890 states the following: “This Act outlaws all contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate and foreign trade. This includes agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers, which are punishable as criminal felonies.” The novel purpose for Sherman’s Act was to protect consumers from big business that was exercising immoral means to raise the prices of their product falsely, for example producing too few goods to help meet...
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...market exhibits characteristics of perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. Objective 309.1.3-‐06: Describe how the need for governmental price regulation differs for firms in different competitive environments. Date: February 9, 2015 A) The Anti-‐Trust Laws Sherman Act (1890) The Sherman Act came about due to a growing public resentment of trusts. The antitrust legislation is broken down into two parts: • Section 1 “Every contract, combination in the form of a trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations is declared to be illegal.” Section 2 “Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony” (Brue, Flynn, & McConnell, 2012) • Some results of the Sherman Act include the banning of various restraints of trade and monopolization. Another result was that ...
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...extremely forward for the time in which it was drafted, and several of its plans were not legitimized until the twentieth century. Each of its plans worked towards establishing equality of opportunity in the United States. The Omaha Platform called for direct election of senators, which eventually became the seventeenth amendment of the Constitution: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof.” It also called to ratify state laws by passing initiatives and referendums, and grant unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply. The sixteenth amendment, which is a graduated income tax, was like the seventeenth amendment, which was proposed as part of this platform. The graduated income tax ensures that “the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” In terms of monopolies, the Omaha platform called to even out the competition by allowing the public to own certain systems. Finally, it attempted to provide loans and warehouses to farmers, and limit laborers to eight-hour work days. This entire plan was extremely...
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...Anti-Trust Laws and the Consumer Anti-trust laws protect the consumer from unfair and deceptive trade practices. These laws were created to protect business owners, consumers and economic efficiency. In an open and free market, businesses must provide quality products and services to consumers as well as truthful representation of their goods and services. Misrepresentation results in inferior products and artificially inflated prices for the consumer and is at times accomplished through unlawful collusion between competitors. A fair and open market where businesses compete in a non-monopolistic environment brings economic efficiency as businesses are encouraged to find more efficient methods of production stay in the market. Inefficient firms that fail to understand consumer needs, eventually lose in the market. If open market competition was nonexistent, cartels and monopolies would be free to distort the allocation of society’s resources for economic profit in the long run. This would result in economic loss to consumers as well as competitive harm to the economy. In the United States, the basic federal antitrust laws are: The Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act (1914) and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The Sherman Act prohibits the restraint of trade and the creation of monopolies and is an important part of economic legislation in the United States. The Sherman Act prohibits any agreement among competitors to fix prices, rig bids or engage in other...
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...where an individual will have a product or service that is better, cheaper, or quicker than everyone else; so much so that they are the only ones that can effectively provide it. When this occurs, competing businesses and giant government entities will stop at nothing to shut it down. The Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act make up the current US antitrust laws. The antitrust laws are supposed to promote and protect competition. The philosophy behind the laws is that trusts and monopolies will stagnate markets and prevent others from engaging in healthy market competition. A monopoly is defined as a situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service. (Investorwords, 2010) Antitrust law legislation started with the Sherman Act that was passed in 1890. The intent of the law was put in place to challenge the unchecked growth of corporations. By 1888, large corporations gained enough market muscle to dominate entire industries. The Sherman Act outlaws all contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate trade. This includes agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids and allocate consumers. The Act also makes it a crime to monopolize any part of interstate commerce. Criminal prosecution will be filed if the Sherman act is violated. If found guilty, the violator can be fined up to $1 million and sentenced up to 10 years in federal...
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...Antitrust Laws and Competitive Business Practices The fair, balanced and competitive application of U.S. laws as applied to business practices Introduction Several laws have been enacted to provide protection to businesses in our free-trade market. There are times when trading within the free market does not demonstrate the fair, balanced and ethical conduct deserved in competitive business. Trying to compete in a market where practices aren’t regulated deprives businesses the benefits of competition, resulting in higher prices for products and services which in turn affect the economy. Unfair trade practices have been around for as long as trade itself. Unfair practices were under scrutiny as early as 470 B.C. Grain was so vital to Greece’s population that trade laws were enacted. A percentage of grain was taken by the state therefore taxes were applied to anyone not importing directly to Athens. Death applied to anyone restricting imports (http://www.ancient.eu/article/115/). The latter was definitely extreme but regulations now cover a broader range of violations with less severe consequences. The federal government enforces three major antitrust laws. These laws address unfair practices that deprive businesses the benefits of interstate and international trade. Federal antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. The Sherman Antitrust...
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...Parties: United States of America: The Plaintiff is the United States which says that the Sherman Antitrust Act has been violated by the defendants. Hilton Hotels Corporation: A defendant that allegedly agreed with other hotels to give preferential treatment to suppliers who paid assessments while decreasing purchases from those companies who refused. Along with its co-defendant, it is accused of bringing the combined economic power of the hotels against the suppliers who failed to pay. Western International Hotels Co.: Another defendant that was accused of violating the Sherman Act’s provisions with its refusals to deal with the unreasonable restraints on trade. Facts: In Portland, Oregon, representatives of hotels, restaurants and other business entities organized an association to attract potential conventions to their respective city. While at the convention, members were asked to make contributions equal to one percent of their sales in order to help finance. To help bolster their collections, hotel members, including the defendant Hilton Hotel Corp., agrees to give preferential treatment to the suppliers who paid their assessments. But for those who did not pay, actions were set in motion to help decrease the purchases from those particular suppliers. Procedure: The court found that the evidence was clearly sufficient to establish that the defendant hotels agreed to prefer suppliers who paid contributions over those who did not. The primary purpose and direct...
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...companies from forming a monopoly, to promote competition and achieve allocative efficiency.] (Brue, 2011) In the mid-1800’s industry began to grow and many companies were becoming monopolies by being dominant firms in their industry. They would drive up prices by using questionable tactics. Different businesses and consumers began to complain to the government about the unfairness of prices The government responded with the Sherman Act of 1890 making both monopoly and conspiracies to restrain trade criminal offenses. While the Sherman Act was for breaking up Monopolies, there was nothing in place to stop companies from using practices that would form a monopoly. Therefore, the government came up with the Clayton Act of 1914 this strengthened the Sherman Act by making it illegal for firms to engage in such practices. The communication, energy and water where industries were taking advantage of consumers. These three entities each have either have a high barrier to entry or is so unique that competitors stay out, they are therefor considered Natural Monopolies. They are business where the cost of service and or product can create a cost to the consumer that is lowest when created on a large scale typically with a single source supplier. A natural monopoly usually occurs when the first company to bring the service and or product to market that is in such demand and is still so unique that competition cannot easily survive. One example of a natural monopoly is AT&T, The cost of...
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...Week 3 Research Paper DeVry University The United States has several laws that are intended to further fair, balanced, and competitive business practices. Do you think that such laws are effective? If so, why? If not, why not? Be sure to provide evidence to support your position one way or the other. Before the late 1800’s there were no laws to protect consumers and the process of competition. Often times, the consumers and the well being of all were not taken into consideration before these antitrust laws were put into act. The business owners were more often than less, only looking to make a profit no matter what that took. Thankfully, in 1890 Congress passed the first antitrust law, the Sherman Act as a “comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade.” This law states that, “This Act outlaws all contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate and foreign trade. This includes agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers, which are punishable as criminal felonies.” (www.ourdocuments.gov/, 2014) A law designed to restore competition and free enterprise by breaking up monopolies. The original intention of the Sherman Antitrust Act was to protect consumers from big businesses that were using unscrupulous means to raise prices artificially, such as intentionally producing too few goods to meet consumer demand and thereby driving up the products'...
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