FTC Reaches Deal With Hospitals to Briefly Extend Merger Pause

Two Philadelphia-area hospital systems agreed to to hold off on closing their merger while the the Federal Trade Commission and state of Pennsylvania seek to overturn a court order approving the deal.

Thomas Jefferson University and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network will voluntarily extend by 10 days a temporary restraining order that barred the two from merging, under an agreement reached with the FTC, an attorney representing the hospitals said Dec. 12.

The order will now expire Dec. 21, Paul H. Saint-Antoine of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, counsel for Thomas Jefferson University, said in a filing with the U.S. ...