Antitrust authorities have been busy litigating mergers in 2016: The Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to a hospital merger in Pennsylvania was revived on appeal, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed two lawsuits to block a pair of health insurance mergers. The antitrust agencies also brought enforcement actions directed at corporate entanglements, alleging violations of premerger notification and interlocking directorate statutes.
Hospital Merger
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit endorsed the FTC’s challenge to the proposed merger of two Pennsylvania hospitals, PinnacleHealth System and Penn State Hershey Medical Center. The court reversed the district court’s denial of the FTC’s request for an injunction, stating that the lower court erred in defining the relevant market for evaluating the competitive effects of the potential merger. FTC v. Penn State Hershey Med. Ctr., No. 16-cv-2365, 2016 WL 5389289 (3d Cir. Sept. 27, 2016).
