Predictions in the current antitrust, regulatory and legislative environments are hard – there is just too much happening. The better insights might be reached by thinking through what the bigger questions might be for example, some things to think about as we approach 2021 and contemplate where a new administration in Washington and evolving antitrust enforcement regimes and priorities will take the health care industry. Will the FTC continue to pursue health system and hospital mergers and affiliations aggressively, as it did in 2020? Will its loss in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, regarding the Jefferson-Einstein merger, be upheld on appeal? Or will the “market realities” aspect of market definition cause the FTC to refocus its efforts and analysis?
WILMINGTON On Wednesday a Wilmington man, 31-year-old Miguel Angel Ramos, was sentenced in Raleigh’s Federal District Court to 156 months in prison.
Ramos was charged on July 25, 2019 for distribution of a quantity of fentanyl. Wilmington Safe Street Task Force agents and a confidential source (CI) caught Ramos distributing two controlled substances of suspected heroin laced with the synthetic opioid.
According to a release, a CI worked with agents to purchase heroin from Ramos twice within a week. The first time was on July 17, 2019 at a Greenfield Lake area gas station. The CI met Ramos and handed over $300 to buy 50 bags of suspected heroin.
Anne Sacoolas, a State Department employee, was charged in a car accident that killed British teenager Harry Dunn in 2019. She returned to the U.S., but a Virginia judge says his parents can sue for damages.