HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — St. Mary’s Medical Center and Cabell Huntington Hospital have filed their responses to the Federal Trade Commission’s administrative complaint opposing their proposed merger, with both denying the FTC’s allegations that the combination would create a dominant firm with a near monopoly over general acute care inpatient hospital services and outpatient surgical services in a four-county area.
The FTC contended in its complaint filed last month that Cabell Huntington’s purchase of St. Mary’s would lead to higher prices and lower quality of care in Cabell, Wayne, and Lincoln counties in West Virginia and Lawrence County, Ohio.
The hospitals’ responses were filed separately Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, respectively, and were made publicly available on the FTC’s website Thursday.
The hospitals deny that combining them would substantially lessen competition for health care services in the Tri-State and lead to increased health care costs and reduce incentives to maintain and improve quality of care.
The responses state that there is significantly more competition for both hospitals than the FTC alleges…
