Regulators Aim to Crack Down on Cross-Market Hospital Deals
Hospitals, buoyed by stabilized finances, have resumed a robust level of transactions. Those deals have drawn more frequent antitrust action by the Biden administration and many state governments, which view hospital mergers and acquisitions as an omen of high health care prices — and augur tough rate negotiations for health insurers.
An increasing number of those transactions involve so-called “cross market” partnerships, in which hospitals from different markets — and often different states — tie up to avoid antitrust scrutiny from state regulators. State antitrust officials often have more leeway to block hospital transactions, since federal regulators are not allowed to investigate either most intrastate deals or interstate deals with combined revenues of under $111 million.