Kevin Pflum, PhD

Kevin Pflum is a Partner in the Antitrust Practice with over 12 years of experience specializing in industrial organization and competition economics. He has significant experience conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses, including analyzing the competitive effects of consolidation, monopolization, and monopsonization. He has worked on merger cases that involve state and federal government agency oversight and has been retained as an expert on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, the Rhode Island Attorney General, and private litigants. He has also performed extensive research in industrial organization and has published in several top journals, including AEJ: Policy, the RAND Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy. In addition to his extensive experience with the healthcare sector, Dr. Pflum has also performed economic analyses for a variety of industries including cable TV, building materials, software, and airlines.

Prior to joining Bates White, Dr. Pflum was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Alabama, where he taught graduate courses in industrial organization and managerial economics as well as undergraduate courses in principles of microeconomics.

PhD, Economics, The Ohio State University

MA, Economics, New York University

BS, Mathematics, University of Victoria

• Retained on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to provide expert testimony on the likely competitive effects of HCA Healthcare’s proposed acquisition of Steward Health Care’s five Utah hospitals. 
• Retained on behalf of the Rhode Island Attorney General to examine the likely competitive effects of the proposed merger between Lifespan and Care New England, the two largest healthcare systems and employers in Rhode Island. The parties ultimately abandoned their merger attempt.
• On behalf of Cedar AI, a software as a service company, supported the expert analysis in the company’s monopolization complaint against an incumbent firm. Evaluated the market definition, competitive effects, and estimated economic damages.
• Led the team supporting the expert analysis of Dr. Leemore Dafny on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission in its action to enjoin Hackensack Meridian Health’s proposed acquisition of Englewood Health. Evaluated the market definition and competitive effects for inpatient general acute care services. Evaluated the efficiencies, cost savings, and other procompetitive effects claimed by the merging parties’ economic experts.
• On behalf of Optum, supported the expert in work to clear Optum's acquisition of Beaver Medical Group in southern California before the Federal Trade Commission. 

• On behalf of a major health insurer, analyzed the likely effects of its proposed acquisition of another health insurer with complementary capabilities. Presented findings to the Department of Justice, which closed its investigation.

• Led the team supporting the expert analysis of Dr. Cory Capps on behalf of defendants in litigation brought by the Federal Trade Commission to enjoin the proposed merger of Jefferson Health with Albert Einstein Healthcare Network.
• On behalf of Centene in connection with its proposed merger with WellCare, supported both organizations' efforts to respond to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) second request. 
• Led the team supporting the expert analysis of Dr. Cory Capps on behalf of the Washington State Attorney General's office in its litigation effort to unwind CHI Franciscan Health's acquisitions of two physician groups.
• On behalf of UnitedHealth's health services subsidiary Optum in its acquisition of DaVita Medical Group, assisted the expert with presentations and submissions to the Federal Trade Commission and several state Attorney General offices addressing potential horizontal and vertical concerns arising from the proposed transaction.
• Supported expert working on behalf of the DOJ to evaluate the effectiveness of AT&T's proposed conduct remedy in its merger with Time Warner. The evaluation included a qualitative review of the ability of the remedy to constrain the merged firm’s increased market power.
• On behalf of Humana, in connection with its proposed merger with Aetna, provided support with responses to the Department of Justice’s second request and analyzed competitive effects in the sale of Medicare Advantage products and, separately, health insurance exchange products offered under the Affordable Care Act.