US: Academics urge court to rehear St. Luke’s antitrust case

Seventeen law professors from across the country are urging a federal appeals court to rehear the antitrust case against Idaho’s St. Luke’s Health System.

The professors filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Monday with the 9th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to grant St. Luke’s request for a rehearing before a full panel of judges. Earlier this year, a three-judge panel of the court decided against St. Luke’s, saying its acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group in Nampa, Idaho, was anti-competitive.

“Antitrust law should properly recognize efficiencies and allow defendants to demonstrate efficiencies under the same burden that plaintiffs have in making out a prima facie case,” according to the brief. The brief goes on to say that the professors, along with the International Center of Law and Economics, with which it filed the brief, “are concerned that the decision of the Panel in this case will prevent or undo beneficial mergers and thereby have adverse effects on consumer welfare.”

Full Content: Modern Healthcare

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