Cross-market deals accounted for more than half of all hospital mergers and acquisitions during the last decade, according to a paper from experts on antitrust law.
Today, nearly 60% of health systems operate multiple hospitals in different geographic markets. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are reviewing public comments on draft merger guidelines designed to crack down on mergers in multiple sectors, including health care. It’s not yet clear if or how cross-market hospital mergers within a state could be affected. Still, the draft says consolidation should not “entrench or extend a dominant position” by extending into “new markets.”
But such cross-market mergers aren’t quite a textbook case of a monopoly, KFF Health News reports. Read more.
