UnitedHealth Takeover of EMIS Could Hurt UK National Health Service, Antitrust Regulator Says -- Update
17 Março 2023 - 05:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Hoppe
The U.K. competition regulator's initial investigation into
UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s 1.24 billion-pound ($1.50 billion) deal
to buy EMIS Group PLC could reduce competition, leading to worse
outcomes for the National Health Service and patients and
taxpayers, it said Friday.
The Competition and Markets Authority said the deal to combine
the healthcare software and data specialists could lead to lower
quality and more expensive software options for the NHS.
In particular, competition could be substantially reduced in the
so-called population health management and medicines-optimization
software markets, which enable the safe and effective use of
medicines, the CMA said.
EMIS said in a statement that it continues to offer its full
support to the takeover in order to obtain the necessary clearance,
and it will engage with the CMA together with the offeror with the
objective of agreeing suitable undertakings, instead of a Phase 2
investigation referral.
The takeover offer was first disclosed in June, and was made by
Bordeaux UK Holdings II Ltd., an affiliate of Optum Health
Solutions (UK) Ltd., and subsidiary of UnitedHealth.
The CMA is concerned the deal could affect services provided by
Optum's competitors, as they rely on digital connections to the
data EMIS holds, and integrations with EMIS's electronic patient
record system.
If the merger went ahead as planned, Optum could choose to limit
these connections and undermine competitors, the CMA said.
UnitedHealth and EMIS have five working days to offer legally
binding proposals to address the concerns. The CMA then has five
further working days to consider the proposals, or if the case
should be referred to a further investigation.
EMIS said it expects to provide the market an update around
March 31.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 17, 2023 04:07 ET (08:07 GMT)
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