STAT+: Private equity escapes FTC in court, but anesthesia group doesn’t

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has wiggled out of the grasp of the Federal Trade Commission, but the private equity firm’s anesthesia company, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, still must face the agency’s antitrust case, a judge ruled last week.

The FTC alleged last year that the anesthesiology network monopolized markets in Texas to drive up prices, but took the unusual step of attaching Welsh Carson as a defendant with USAP. Dismissing Welsh Carson from the case was a victory for the private equity firm and, more broadly, other firms worried that the Biden administration would try to hold them responsible for anything their portfolio companies do.

But the allegations against USAP didn’t disappear, which will keep up scrutiny on companies that have made a push to acquire numerous physician groups.

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