NERA Economic Consulting Associate Directors Dr. Andrew Stivers and Dr. Emily Walden and Managing Director Dr. Subbu Ramanarayanan published an article in Competition Policy International (CPI) titled “Novel Privacy Concerns in Health Care Antitrust.” The article examines privacy concerns and the implications for healthcare antitrust practitioners grappling with the increased value and prominence of patient data in competition.

In many respects, this data can be examined using traditional antitrust concepts. However, antitrust authorities and other stakeholders have also raised questions about consumers’ interests in mergers and other competition practices from a privacy perspective. Privacy advocates have identified a range of possible welfare effects stemming from the commercial collection and use of personal data.

This paper identifies four areas in which competition and market structure may affect interests novel to antitrust and distinct from the traditional analysis of firm assets as applied to data. These include price discrimination, data security, intrinsic value, and autonomy. We examine these issues in the context of healthcare, but the analysis is likely to apply similarly to other areas of antitrust.