The commission recognizes that reforms in the health system will occur through the development of comprehensive, integrated, and cost-effective health services delivery systems. Because the health services market place is evolving in anticipation of changes required by the act, it would not be appropriate to establish with precision specific areas where cooperative activities are entitled to immunity from antitrust laws. Pursuant to RCW
34.05.023, the commission therefore adopts as an interim policy statement the
Statements of Enforcement Policy and Analytical Principles Relating to Health Care and Antitrust issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission on September 27, 1994. These nine policy statements address: (1) Mergers among hospitals; (2) hospital joint ventures involving high-technology or other expensive health care equipment; (3) hospital joint ventures involving specialized clinical or other expensive health care services; (4) providers' collective provision of nonfee-related information to purchasers of health care services; (5) providers' collective provision of fee-related information to purchasers of health care services; (6) provider participation in exchanges of price and cost information; (7) joint purchasing arrangements among health care providers; (8) physician network joint ventures; and (9) analytical principles relating to multiprovider networks.