Plaintiffs allege that, even if hospital-system defendants obtained their Asheville-area inpatient-care monopoly legally (largely via the now-repealed Certificate of Public Advantage law), defendants illegally coerced health insurers into including anti-steering provisions in their policies in order to maintain defendants’ monopoly in the “Asheville Region Inpatient Services Market.” Plaintiffs allege that, absent these anti-steering provisions, the
Jefferson-Einstein merger moves forward as FTC steps aside
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The Federal Trade Commission will not appeal a federal judge s dismissal of its lawsuit that sought to block the Jefferson Health and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network merger, regulators told the Pennsylvania health systems Friday.
The FTC and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro claimed that the transaction would stifle competition and likely lead to price increases after the combined entity controls 60% of the North Philadelphia acute-care market. But regulators didn t make a compelling case that insurers wouldn t be able to find viable substitutes for the merged system and thus would have to submit to higher reimbursement rate mandates, U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Pappert wrote.