Search

After waiting 21/2 years and spending a fortune in legal fees to beat a federal antitrust challenge, Tenet Healthcare Corp. finally bought 186-bed Doctors Regional Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Mo. [...]

The antitrust suit filed by the Justice Dept against two hospitals in Long Island, NY, indicates that the agency has awoken from its state of antitrust regulatory inactivity since 1994. The Dept is charging that the merger between Long Island Jewish Medical Center (New Hyde Park, NY) and North Shore Health System (Manhasset, NY) violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act., Suit against N.Y. merger shows feds' antitrust concern Awaking from a three-year enforcement sleep, the U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust suit last week against the proposed merger of two [...]

A proposed merger between two Western Florida hospitals has been blocked temporarily by an unusual lawsuit by both the state of Florida and the federal government. Morton Plant Health System in Clearwater had planned to merge with Mease Health Care Inc in adjacent Dunedin. According to the lawsuit, the merger would allow the combined hospitals to operate 20% of hospitals and 31% of hospital beds within Pinellas County. The Justice Dept action comes despite a Clinton administration policy to look kindly on health care consolidations. The suit contends that the merger would violate anti-competitive clauses of the Clayton antitrust act.

Adventist Health Systems/Sunbelt Inc is being sued by the state of Florida for violations of state law concerning the transfer of charitable assets. The case revolves around Adventist's hospital swap with Columbia Hospital Corp. Specifically, it involves the trade of a not-for-profit hospital, Medical Center Hospital in Punta Gorda, FL, for Columbia's Memorial Hospital in Kissimmee, FL, and two other smaller hospitals owned by Columbia. Columbia's subsequent acquisition of charitable assets is viewed by the state as a violation of law.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is filing an appeal in an antitrust case involving the not-for profit Ukiah Valley Medical Center. The FTC is appealing Judge Lewis Parker's decision that Ukiah Valley Medical Center's 1988 acquisition of Ukiah General Hospital for $5.9 million does not violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act or present any anti-competitive threats. Differences in market share definition and the subsequent analysis the acquisition's impact on the area hospital market by Judge Parker and the FTC are the reasons the FTC is appealing the original decision.