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US: 9th Circuit rules against St. Luke’s in antitrust case

By  |  February 10, 2015

A federal judge ruled in January 2014 that St. Luke’s Health System broke antitrust laws when it bought Saltzer Medical Group, Idaho’s largest independent physicians’ practice, in 2012.

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    Tuesday, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and upheald the sale reversal.

    “Obviously, we are extremely disappointed by the outcome,” Beth Toal, spokeswoman for St. Luke’s Health System, said.

    The Ninth Circuit said that when a healthcare merger creates a substantial risk of higher prices, it is not enough to show that the merger would allow the health system to better serve patients. The Federal Trade Commission continues to build favorable court precedent for its efforts to stop healthcare mergers it believes are anticompetitive.

     

    Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

     

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