Robert F. Leibenluft Named to Head FTC Bureau of Competition, Health Care Shop.

Robert F. Leibenluft has been named to head the health care division within the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, announced Bureau Director William J. Baer today. As Assistant Director for Health Care, Leibenluft will oversee the FTC competition staff's review of hospital mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as investigations of unilateral or joint practices in the health care industry that could be anticompetitive, resulting in higher prices or reduced service for consumers.

Leibenluft has been a partner at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Hogan & Hartson where he has practiced health and antitrust law since 1981. Prior to that, he was an attorney advisor in the FTC's Office of Policy Planning. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Health Lawyers Association, and was a member of the Task Force on Provider-Based PPOs (preferred provider organizations) of the American Bar Association's Antitrust Section. Leibenluft has lectured and written extensively on health care antitrust and other health law issues.

A 1973 graduate of Yale University, Leibenluft earned his J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, in 1980. He is married and resides with his wife and two sons in Chevy Chase, Maryland.