Ninth Circuit Affirms Oregon Power to Regulate Hospital Mergers

A federal appeals court affirmed Oregon’s ability to regulate the approval of hospital mergers and acquisitions within the state.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday found that Oregon’s Health Care Market Oversight Law, which allows the state to deny hospital mergers and acquisitions if they are found to negatively affect access to care for state residents, didn’t violate hospitals’ due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, a trade group representing the interests of hospitals within the state, had originally claimed the state’s regulation ...