California and New York are among the states that are heightening scrutiny of health care mergers, by giving attorneys general the ability to block deals or creating new processes to review whether certain acquisitions could drive up costs or lead to the elimination of services.
The activity could augment the work of the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, which are increasingly focused on anticompetitive behavior in the sector but usually limit merger reviews to deals valued at more than $101 million, Axios reports.
New York passed a law earlier this year that requires health care entities to give the state a 30-day notice before closing any deal.
Maine repealed a law that exempted some health system and provider deals from antitrust laws — a move the FTC praised. Read more.
