The fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget proposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeks a 20 percent increase from its FY 2024 budget and an additional 55 employees to help support its mission.

The budget increase will be partially offset by increases in the Hart-Scott-Rodino filing fees, which now range from $30,000 to $2,335,000, depending on the size of the transaction.

As stated in FTC Chair Lina Khan’s May 15, 2024, prepared remarks before the House Appropriations Subcommittee, the FTC’s increased budget request and additional resources are necessary in part to continue the agency’s pursuit of “illegal mergers” in “markets for healthcare services.” According to Chair Khan, those mergers “threaten patients with higher cost and lower quality care and healthcare workers with lower wages and poorer working conditions.” She cited recent enforcement actions against hospital mergers in California and North Carolina as examples of the FTC’s efforts to protect competition in hospital markets. In addition, the agency will continue to focus on “[r]oll up strategies across sectors, including healthcare,” which require a review of “aggregate trends, not just isolated deals.”

The FTC’s increased budget request, along with the U.S. Department of Justice’s newly constituted Task Force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion, augur sustained headwinds for health care-related transactions.