By Robin Struijlaart and / or Lara Haanraadts

On 23 October 2018, the ACM published a letter that it sent to the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport (Minister) on 19 July 2018. This letter makes far-reaching suggestions for the tightening of merger control in healthcare. Even if the policy would only partly take over the suggestions, it would become (even) much more difficult for healthcare institutions to obtain approval for an intended merger or takeover.

In 2016, the Minister asked the ACM to indicate how she views the added value of a possible tightening of the care-specific merger test (ZFT). The Minister also requested the ACM to make suggestions for policy and any additional instruments for the supervision of healthcare mergers.