21st Century Oncology v. State of Florida and Dr. Michael Katin
Cory Capps provided written and oral testimony in 21st Century Oncology v. State of Florida and Dr. Michael Katin on behalf of the defendant and the intervenor. In spring 2019, Florida passed a law that disallows, for a period of three years, physician non-compete agreements or restrictive covenants where a single entity employs or contracts with all physicians of a given specialty in any county. 21st Century Oncology, Florida’s largest provider of radiation oncology services and the sole provider of such services in some geographies, challenged the constitutionality of this law in federal court. Dr. Capps testified that economic research has shown that high concentration in the supply of physician services in geographies similar to or corresponding with counties can result in higher prices and higher healthcare expenditures. Moreover, economic research has also shown that antitrust enforcement can be impractical when consolidation happens through a series of individually small transactions, as is common in the case of physicians. Consequently, he testified, there is an economic basis for state policies, such as temporarily suspending non-compete enforceability, to prevent or ameliorate high concentration in physician services markets.