Regulators Challenge Idaho Nonprofit Hospital’s Merger Plans

Federal and Idaho State regulators filed an antitrust complaint Tuesday seeking to block a nonprofit hospital network’s acquisition of a doctors’ group, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Federal Trade Commission and Idaho’s attorney general contend the union of Boise-based St. Luke’s Health System and Saltzer Medical Group would create an entity with three-fifths of the primary-care physicians in Nampa, Idaho’s second-largest city, leading to “higher prices for consumers and employers,” said Tom Greene, an FTC counsel.

Antitrust regulators are closely scrutinizing such pacts as the pace of health-care mergers quickens, raising fears of lower competition and higher costs. Christy Neuhoff, St. Luke’s general counsel, said the Saltzer deal would better integrate health services in the region and boost efficiency in line with the aims of federal health-care reform.