FTC Merger Oversight Dealt Blow in Hospital Disclosure Loss (2)

A federal judge ruled that Louisiana Children’s Medical Center’s purchase of three hospitals from HCA Healthcare Inc. is exempt from federal deal review laws, in a defeat for the Federal Trade Commission.

In a ruling Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Judge Lance Africk granted the hospitals’ motion for summary judgment and dismissed the FTC’s lawsuit without permission to refile. The agency had sought to stop the integration of the hospitals while it reviewed the transaction.

Africk’s ruling upholds the power of state certificates of public advantage, or COPAs, which allow legislatures to grant ...