ModernHealthcare.com
The Franklin, Tenn.-based chain said in a news release that the Federal Trade Commission has requested additional documents related to the deal in what’s known as a second request
ModernHealthcare.com
The Franklin, Tenn.-based chain said in a news release that the Federal Trade Commission has requested additional documents related to the deal in what’s known as a second request
Financial Times
By Sarah Neville, Public Policy Editor
More hospital mergers are in prospect following an announcement on Thursday that will reduce the chance of lengthy referrals to the Competition Commission and, say supporters, ensure better use of scarce NHS resources.
The extent to which competitive pressures should be allowed in the National Health Service has been among the most contentious questions raised by the health reforms implemented in April.
Daily Echo
HOSPITAL bosses at Bournemouth and Christchurch are expecting their planned merger with Poole to be barred.
A letter to staff, seen by the Daily Echo, says the Competition Commission is likely to reject the merger bid in a decision expected within days.
The chief executive of Poole has previously warned that his trust could slip into the red next year and be placed into administration if the merger did not go ahead.
Tony Spotswood, chief executive of Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust, says in the letter to staff: “It is likely that an announcement will be made shortly on the proposed merger with Poole Hospital.
From: BakerHostetler
Article by Jonathan L. Lewis and Lee H. Simowitz
Two weeks into the FTC’s and Idaho AG’s antitrust trial challenging hospital system St. Luke’s Health System (“St. Luke’s”) acquisition of the Saltzer Medical Group (“Saltzer”) – a for-profit, physician-owned, multi-specialty group comprising approximately 44 physicians located in Nampa, Idaho – a lot more is at stake than just whether St. Luke’s eventually will be ordered to unwind its acquisition of Saltzer.
Russ Zimmer
CentralOhio.com
Some of the most defining moments of life — surgery, the birth of a child, the death of a parent — occur every day in community hospitals around the state. But the fate of these hospitals and decisions on what services they provide are increasingly being decided in a board room in another city.
The hospital consolidation movement is back after a lull in transactions at the turn of the century. In Licking County, leadership at Licking Memorial Hospital is confident the 115-year-old hospital will retain its independence going forward.
Editor’s Note: The FTC may have plans in store that differ from the outcome set forth in the following article.
New Haven Register
The universe of hospital care is fast evolving in Connecticut, with a giant for-profit system poised to take over a number of small community hospitals, while Yale-New Haven Health Systems is set to provide some clinical services beyond its current footprint.
As reported previously, the FTC and Idaho attorney general are alleging that St. Luke’s acquisition of Saltzer is anticompetitive because it creates a single dominant provider of adult primary care physician services in Nampa, Idaho, with a combined share of nearly 60 percent. The newly-combined primary care practices, they allege, give St. Luke’s greater bargaining leverage with healthcare plans, with higher prices for services eventually being passed on to local employers and their workers. Other local hospitals contend that the combination may choke off their access to inpatient admissions referred by Saltzer physicians.
Sun Chronicle
Andrew Rice arice@keepmecurrent.com
BIDDEFORD – The top officials at Goodall Hospital in Sanford and Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford reassured the public during a series of forums that the upcoming merger of the two facilities will expand health care in York County and improve both hospitals.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, the two hospitals will officially become Southern Maine Health Care, effectively making it the fifth largest health-care system in the state, with 2,200 employees.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has been a leading financial supporter of studies which conclude that hospital mergers lead to unjustifiable price increases. (Position 1).
One of it’s signature studies has been reviewed in detail by the Washington, DC regulatory watchdog the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE). CRE has concluded that the study violates the Data Quality Act and therefore can not be used by any federal agency as a basis of making policy or issuing regulations.
On the other hand the other hand the Foundation’s namesake hospital, the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, whose former board member is now the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, has now merged with another hospital. (Position 2).
In 2012, 94 hospital/healthcare system mergers and acquisitions took place, according the American Hospital Association’s website. That was a slight increase from 92 in 2011. The trend will continue into 2014 because of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, predicted researchers in a June 2013 article on the American Medical Association’s news website.