• Tomasz Chróstny, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), has granted a conditional consent for the acquisition of Lecznice Citomed by Lux Med.
• The condition imposed will ensure that competition will not be restricted and thus the situation of local patients in Toruń and its vicinity will not deteriorate.

The participants of the concentration provide healthcare services. Lux Med runs several hundred medical facilities across the country, while Lecznice Citomed has several clinics in Toruń.

The investigation has shown that the concentration may restrict competition on the local market for diagnostic imaging services in Toruń and its vicinity. Both entrepreneurs own most of the equipment such as CT and MRI scanners, and perform most examinations in that area.

"The investigation has shown that the concentration might significantly restrict competition. However, it was possible to impose a condition that would offset the negative effects of the transaction and thus not worsen the situation of patients in Toruń and its vicinity who will use diagnostic imaging services in the future. This applies both to patients who use National Health Fund (NFZ) services and those who pay for medical services," says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

Condition

    When granting the consent for the concentration, the President of UOKiK took into account changes that would strengthen the position of competitors of the concentration participants. They include the purchase of MRI and CT equipment planned by the Provincial Polyclinical Hospital in Toruń. Pursuant to the condition imposed, Lux Med is to maintain prices of diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography services in Lux Med and Citomed facilities within the period indicated in the consent for patients who pay for medical services and do not use packages (the so-called FFS patients) based on the Lux Med price list for Toruń as at 31 August 2021. During this period, any possible changes to Lux Med prices in Toruń cannot exceed the arithmetic mean of prices of MRI and CT services for FFS patients applicable in Lux Med facilities in cities with a population of over 100,000.

In addition, the acquiring company is to provide non-discriminatory access to diagnostic imaging services during the aforementioned period. The time that it takes for FFS patients to have diagnostic imaging examinations performed must be of similar length to that of patients with Lux Med packages and no longer than that of patients whose examination is financed by the National Health Fund.

The condition also applies to Lux Med's cooperation with public hospitals in subcontracting diagnostic imaging examinations. Lux Med was required:

• not to terminate agreements concluded with public hospitals for reasons concerning Lux Med or Citomed,
• to maintain the discounts provided to public hospitals under contracts in force,
• not to make changes to the price list for diagnostic imaging services for public hospitals that are not based on a reasonable change in the cost of providing these services,
• maintain the availability of diagnostic laboratories for on-call technicians in public hospitals.

Lux Med will be required to file performance reports both during and after the period in which the condition is effective.

According to law, a transaction shall be notified to the antitrust office if it involves entrepreneurs whose aggregate turnover in the preceding year exceeded EUR 1 billion worldwide or EUR 50 million in Poland. When assessing concentrations, the President of UOKIK may prohibit or approve them, or impose certain conditions that must be met for the applicant to receive approval. All decisions issued by UOKIK remain valid for two years.

The decision is not final. The applicant has the right to appeal to the Court of Consumer and Competition Protection. At the same time, we would like to inform you that the UOKIK website provides information on all antitrust proceedings pertaining to concentrations, which are conducted by UOKIK.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL