Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Contracting changes resolve concerns over unreported health care industry acquisition in Canada, (Dec 15, 2014)

TELUS Health, a self-described leader in consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management, has agreed to amend certain of its contracting practices in order to resolve Canada Competition Bureau concerns over its acquisition of pharmacy management software company XD3 Solutions. The transaction was not notified to the Competition Bureau due to its size. However, issues with the deal, which was disclosed in September, were identified in light of stakeholder complaints.

The Competition Bureau questioned whether certain of XD3 Solutions' and TELUS Health's contractual terms limit competition by restricting a pharmacist's ability to switch software providers. Specifically, these terms require a pharmacist to utilize TELUS Health's data transfer tool, obtain TELUS Health's consent prior to transferring data to a new supplier's platform, and pay an unspecified fee for such a data transfer, it was noted.

The Competition Bureau announced on December 12 that TELUS Health had agreed, for a period of five years, to amend contracting terms to make it easier for Quebec pharmacists to switch to another service provider. The conditions are intended to ensure that new or existing pharmacy management solution providers are able to effectively compete in Quebec.

Specifically, TELUS Health contracts in Quebec will reflect the following terms:

• pharmacists will not be required to obtain TELUS Health's consent prior to performing a data transfer;

• pharmacists will not be obligated to use TELUS Health's data transfer tool;

• depending on the pharmacy management platform being used either pharmacists will be able to provide their new supplier with access to the TELUS Health platform in order to extract the data or TELUS Health will, free of charge, provide the customer with a copy of its data; and

• a data transfer fee of up to a maximum of $2,500 may be charged, only in cases where a pharmacist requests TELUS Health's assistance with transferring data.

Companies: TELUS Health; XD3 Solutions

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