The Federal Commerce Fee introduced Thursday that it’s going to file a lawsuit to cease HCA Healthcare, which operates MountainStar Healthcare in Utah, from buying 5 Steward Well being Care hospitals within the state. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information)
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Commerce Fee introduced Thursday that it’s going to file a lawsuit and an administrative criticism towards a Utah well being care merger.
HCA Healthcare, referred to as MountainStar Healthcare in Utah, introduced that it had acquired the 5 Steward Well being Care System hospitals in Utah in September. Nevertheless, the FTC is attempting to cease the merger, which it says would eradicate competitors within the Wasatch Entrance area.
“Because the second and fourth largest well being care system within the Wasatch Entrance area of Utah, which surrounds Salt Lake Metropolis, HCA Healthcare and Steward Well being Care System assist preserve prices down for shoppers by vigorously competing with one another” the FTC stated. The director of the Workplace of Competitors, Holly Vedova, in an announcement.
Vedova stated competitors between the 2 firms results in each decrease costs and revolutionary companies that might be misplaced after a merger. The FTC assertion stated that HCA Healthcare and Steward Well being Care System compete for inclusion within the insurance coverage community, high quality of well being care, and nurses and medical doctors.
Steward Well being Care is at the moment a low-cost competitor for normal inpatient acute care hospital companies, and a merger might change that. The FTC stated a merger would permit HCA to extend its charges and a few of that value could be handed on to employers and well being plan members by means of increased premiums, deductibles and bills.
In keeping with the discharge, the FTC voted unanimously to authorize the seek for a brief restraining order and a preliminary injunction that might halt the merger till the lawsuit is resolved. An administrative trial is scheduled to start on December 13.
A public model of the lawsuit is just not but accessible.
In asserting the acquisition settlement, HCA Healthcare stated the extra amenities would assist them meet rising healthcare wants in Utah.
“We imagine the addition of those amenities will assist us enhance healthcare community choices for sufferers and permit funding in companies to fulfill the rising demand for healthcare. We look ahead to welcoming them to the HCA Healthcare household,” he stated. CEO Sam Hazen.
Hospitals owned by Steward Well being Care within the state embody Davis Hospital in Layton, Jordan Valley Medical Heart in West Jordan, Jordan Valley Medical Heart-West Valley Campus, Mountain Level Medical Heart in Lehi, and Salt Lake Regional Medical Heart in Salt Lake Metropolis.
HCA Healthcare’s MountainStar hospitals in Utah embody Brigham Metropolis Group Hospital, Cache Valley Hospital in North Logan, Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Lone Peak Hospital in Draper, Mountain View Hospital-Payson, Ogden Regional Medical Heart, St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake Metropolis and Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem.
One other Utah well being care system accomplished its personal merger in April, with Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare becoming a member of Colorado hospital system SCL Well being, making Intermountain the 11th largest nonprofit well being care system within the US. Intermountain officers stated the mixed firms make use of greater than 59,000 folks, function 33 hospitals and 385 clinics in seven states, and insure 1 million folks in Utah and Idaho.
