Five Lessons From 2015 Healthcare Deals - In 2015, we already have seen a great deal of activity in healthcare transactions that is attracting antitrust scrutiny, with mixed results. Among the winners have been Cabell...more
This is the concluding installment of a six-part series discussing the Federal Trade Commission's challenges to provider mergers. Following the initial Introduction and Background (Part 1), the series discusses The Need for...more
Here’s an interesting riddle. When a plaintiff sues a hospital for an injury, why would the hospital insist the injury was caused by malpractice? Even more puzzlingly, why would the plaintiff insist she was not the victim...more
The Ninth Circuit will not reconsider its decision to force St. Luke’s Health System to unwind its purchase of Saltzer Medical Group, the largest physician practice group in the relevant Idaho market. The ruling leaves in...more
This is the fifth in a six-part series discussing the Federal Trade Commission's challenges to provider mergers. Following the initial Introduction and Background (Part 1), the series discusses The Need for Early Legal Advice...more
In reviewing mergers of healthcare providers, government antitrust enforcers have historically focused on horizontal mergers between competing providers—in particular, those that result in high market shares in a specific...more
In a rare appellate opinion addressing the merits of a merger challenge, the Ninth Circuit last month sided with the Federal Trade Commission, finding that a 2012 merger of two health care providers in Idaho was likely to...more
On February 10, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (which covers Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii and Arizona) ordered St. Luke’s Health System, Ltd. (“St....more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and a Massachusetts Superior Court each recently released decisions dealing with alleged violations of antitrust prohibitions that implicate a number of important issues surrounding health...more
On February 10, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) achieved a historic victory when a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a hospital's acquisition of a physician's group – the transaction challenged by the FTC – ran afoul...more
Healthcare providers frequently consolidate to cut costs and improve patient care. These benefits can result from sharing administrative costs such as billing and electronic recordkeeping, eliminating excess capacity, better...more
On February 10, 2015, the Ninth Circuit issued its highly-anticipated decision at the intersection of health care and antitrust, affirming the lower court’s finding that a hospital-physician group merger completed nearly...more
On February 10, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court decision finding that the merger of two healthcare providers in Idaho violated antitrust laws. St. Alphonsus Medical Center-Nampa...more
The Ninth Circuit last week held that St. Luke’s Health System’s purchase of a physician practice group violated federal antitrust laws. In doing so, it upheld a district court’s order that the merger be dissolved. ...more
On February 10, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that St. Luke’s Health System’s acquisition of the independent physician group Saltzer Medical Group violated...more
With the ink still drying on the Ninth Circuit’s opinion affirming the Idaho federal district court’s order requiring St. Luke’s Health System to unwind its acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group—a for-profit, physician-owned,...more
In a much anticipated appellate health care antitrust decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court’s finding that a consummated hospital-physician group merger violated Section 7...more
On February 10, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court decision, which held that St. Luke’s Health System’s (“St. Luke’s”) acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group (“Saltzer”) violated...more
In an opinion issued February 10, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a year-old decision by the Idaho District Court which held that St. Luke’s Health System’s acquisition of the Saltzer Medical...more
In March 2013, the Federal Trade Commission, together with the Idaho Attorney General, filed a complaint seeking to block St. Luke’s Health System’s planned acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group P.A., a multi-specialty...more
The interplay between the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), and antitrust has been a matter of great moment for several years. It has been an issue in litigation such as the Federal Trade...more
The Antitrust in Health Care conference took place May 13 to 14, 2014, in Arlington, Virginia, where a number of the speakers were representatives of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Antitrust Division of the U.S....more
In January, a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Idaho ordered St. Luke’s Health System Ltd. (St. Luke’s) to unwind a recent acquisition of a physician group because the deal violated federal and state antitrust...more
In the first fully litigated challenge by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to a hospital acquisition of physician practices, a federal district court judge ruled that St. Luke’s Health System’s (St. Luke’s) acquisition of a...more