FTC files petition opposing $150M HCA Healthcare-LCMC deal

The FTC has "sued to stop Louisiana Children’s Medical Center (LCMC) from integrating three competing hospitals in the New Orleans area that it recently acquired, saying LCMC and HCA Healthcare, Inc. ("HCA") defied federal law by consummating the $150 million acquisition without reporting it to U.S. antitrust authorities and without observing the mandatory waiting period. In a petition filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the FTC is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction requiring that LCMC and HCA comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, that LCMC hold the three acquired hospitals and related assets separate from its existing hospital system pending an FTC investigation into the transaction, and that LCMC give the FTC prior notice of certain transactions while the court resolves the agency’s dispute." TheFly notes that in January, the Louisiana Department of Justice has given final approval to a deal in which LCMC Health has purchased three hospitals in Tulane, Louisiana, from HCA Healthcare for $150M. Reference Link