Search:

For Release: June 19, 2003

FTC/DOJ Hearings on Health Care And Competition Law and Policy

Schedule for June 25-26, 2003 Sessions

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice (DOJ) today released a detailed schedule for a session of their joint hearings on health care and competition law and policy to be held June 25-26, 2003. These hearings, originally scheduled to be held at the FTC Conference Center, will now be held at FTC Headquarters at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. Morning sessions begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at approximately 12:30 p.m. Afternoon sessions begin at 2:00 p.m. and end at approximately 5:00 p.m.

The specific sessions at this set of hearings are as follows:

Date Morning Session Topic Afternoon Session Topic
June 25 None Mandated Benefits
June 26 Pharmaceuticals: Formulary Issues Prospective Guidance

As previously announced, there will be no hearings during July-August, 2003. The FTC and DOJ anticipate holding additional hearings on September 10-12, 2003; September 24-26, 2003; and September 30, 2003.

As noted in the Federal Register notice announcing this event, any interested person may submit written comments responsive to any of the topics to be addressed. Comments directed at a particular subject considered during a particular session of hearings must be submitted no later than 45 days after the date of that specific hearing session. Comments on broader subjects within the general scope of the hearings may be submitted at any time after the publication of this notice, but no later than November 28, 2003.

Written comments should be submitted in both hard copy and electronic form. Six hard copies of each submission should be addressed to Donald S. Clark, Office of the Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Submissions should be captioned: “Comments Regarding Hearings on Health Care and Competition Law and Policy.” Electronic submissions may be sent by electronic mail to healthcare@ftc.gov. Alternatively, electronic submissions may be filed on a 3-1/2 inch computer disk with a label stating the name of the submitter and the name and version of the word processing program used to create the document.

Information about the health care hearings is available on the Web sites for the hearings, http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/healthcarehearings/ or http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/hchearing.htm and from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.

FTC MEDIA CONTACT:

Cathy MacFarlane
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-3657

FTC STAFF CONTACT:

David Hyman, Special Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
202-326-2622

DOJ MEDIA CONTACT:

Gina Talamona
Office of Public Affairs
202-514-2007

DOJ STAFF CONTACT:

William Berlin
Litigation I Section
202-616-5938

(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/06/healthcare2526.htm)

Related Documents:

Health Care Hearings Agenda: June 25-26