Federal Trade Commission announced on tuesday New Jersey’s two planned merging hospital systems scrapped the plans after the Federal Trade Commission complained that the merger would be anticompetitive.
“This deal will combine two hospitals less than a mile apart, which also happens to be the only one in New Brunswick, NJ,” Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in the news. two hospitals.” released. “As the combined share of inpatient general acute care services in Middlesex County, New Jersey, is approximately 50%, the transaction is presumed to be illegal and will result in higher prices and lower quality of care for New Jersey residents.”
Hospitals planned to merge include RWJ Barnabas Healthone of the largest healthcare systems in New Jersey with $6.6 billion in 2021 revenue, and St. Peter’s Healthcare System, which operates an independent hospital near RWJ’s General Acute Care Hospital. The two hospital systems compete for inclusion in health insurance plans, as well as for patients.
Barry H. Ostrowsky, CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, in a Press Releases“We are disappointed by the termination of the proposed transaction, which we believe will transform quality, increase accessibility and reduce the overall cost of care for the people of this state by creating a premier academic medical center.”
This Leslie Hirsch, chief executive of St. Peter’s Healthcare System, also Press Releases She was disappointed with the result. “However, we are grateful for the strong partnership with RWJBarnabas leadership,” Hirsch said.
On June 2, the FTC filed a 5-0 appeal to block the proposed merger, which would “significantly increase the concentration of general acute care services in Middlesex County, NJ, and allow insurers and Patients have fewer options and less attractiveness,” according to the press release.
This is the third complaint the FTC has filed against the proposed hospital merger so far this year. One complaint was against Utah health care rivals HCA Healthcare and Steward Health Care System, and the other was against Rhode Island’s two largest health care providers.
Meanwhile, several antitrust lawsuits are being filed against the health care system across the country, including one against the health care system. Earlier this month, Nashville-based HCA Healthcare.A small town in North Carolina is Blame the HCA HCA “unlawfully restrained trade and monopoly” after acquiring the Mission Hospital system in 2019, the lawsuit says it now has more than 70 percent of the monopoly market share in multiple NC counties.
Another antitrust lawsuit is in Connecticut. St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center sued Hartford Healthcare in January, alleging that Hartford sought to monopolize services by hiring St. Francis doctors.
Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
