HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Federal Trade Commission dismissed its case against Cabell Huntington Hospital’s acquisition of St. Mary’s Medical Center on Wednesday, bringing the hospitals one step closer to finalizing the deal.
The FTC’s administrative complaint, issued in November, alleged that the proposed merger violated U.S. antitrust law and would create a monopoly, leading to higher prices and lower quality.
The commission voted to dismiss the complaint in light of the passage in March of a new West Virginia law relating to certain “cooperative agreements” between hospitals in the state, and the West Virginia Health Care Authority’s decision to approve a cooperative agreement between the hospitals, with which the West Virginia Attorney General concurred. Cooperative agreement laws seek to replace antitrust enforcement with state regulation and supervision of healthcare provider combinations.
“This case presents another example of healthcare providers attempting to use state legislation to shield potentially anticompetitive combinations from antitrust enforcement..
