Competition among physicians. Avoiding anticompetitive activities.

Abstract

Increases in both the cost of medical care and the numbers of providers have generated strong pressure for competition in the medical profession. The Federal Trade Commission strives to maintain such competition free from public and private restraints in order to maximize consumer welfare. The author describes the advantages of these types of competitive practices and discusses the competitive restraints that most concern the FTC: restrictions on ethical advertising, exclusion of competitors, restraints on dispensing drugs, and restrictions on commercial practice locations.