E. John Steren, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences and Litigation & Business Disputes practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Law360 Healthcare Authority, in “FTC's Probes of Trans Care Orgs Raise Jurisdiction Concerns,” by Mark Payne. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
The FTC has argued in both the administrative and federal court cases that it has jurisdiction to investigate and determine whether it has jurisdiction to enforce claims against the medical nonprofits.
Until the target organizations comply with the CIDs and produce "information and documents sufficient to show the commission that it lacks enforcement authority," then "the commission cannot concede that it lacks enforcement authority," the agency said in the decision denying the quash bid.
John Steren, a healthcare antitrust attorney at Epstein Becker Green, told Law360 that it's a challenge to determine whether the FTC should pursue investigations on nonprofits to determine whether they are conducting business as nonprofits.
He noted that even if an investigation doesn't turn into enforcement, it could lead to negative consequences for a nonprofit.
"There obviously is a bright line as to when an investigation morphs into an enforcement action, but trying to use a CID simply for investigative purposes can obviously cause a lot of hardship," Steren said.
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