The Federal Trade Commission has sued U.S. Anesthesia Partners and its creator, private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
The FTC alleges the two groups executed a multiyear anticompetitive scheme to consolidate anesthesiology practices in Texas, hike up the price of anesthesia services provided to Texas patients and increase their own profits, according to a Sept. 21 news release from the FTC.
Since its creation in 2012, USAP has acquired more than a dozen anesthesiology practices in Texas.
"Private equity firm Welsh Carson spearheaded a roll-up strategy and created USAP to buy out nearly every large anesthesiology practice in Texas. Along with a set of unlawful agreements to set prices and allocate markets, these tactics enabled USAP and Welsh Carson to raise prices for anesthesia services — raking in tens of millions of extra dollars for these executives at the expense of Texas patients and businesses," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in the release.
The FTC seeks equitable relief to remedy the effects of USAP and Welsh Carson's anticompetitive conduct and to prevent similar events from occurring.
"Welsh Carson is profoundly disappointed that the FTC has chosen to bring this unwarranted case," a spokesperson for Welsh Carson said in a statement to Becker's. "We are proud of our investment in USAP, which has allowed independent anesthesiologists to deliver superior clinical outcomes to underserved populations. The FTC's action will harm clinicians and patients at a time of physician shortages. Moreover, the FTC is ignoring that USAP's commercial rates have not exceeded the rate of medical cost inflation for close to ten years. The FTC's decision to pursue a civil action against a minority investor of a physician-owned company is unprecedented and disregards well-settled principles of law."