FTC Healthcare Merger Retrospective Again?

Two weeks into the FTC's and Idaho AG's antitrust trial challenging hospital system St. Luke's Health System ("St. Luke's") acquisition of the Saltzer Medical Group ("Saltzer") – a for-profit, physician-owned, multi-specialty group comprising approximately 44 physicians located in Nampa, Idaho – a lot more is at stake than just whether St. Luke's eventually will be ordered to unwind its acquisition of Saltzer.

As reported previously, the FTC and Idaho AG allege that St. Luke's acquisition of Saltzer is anticompetitive because it creates a single dominant provider of adult primary care physician services in Nampa, Idaho with a combined share of nearly 60%.  The newly-combined primary care practices, the FTC and Idaho AG allege, give St. Luke's greater bargaining leverage with health care plans, with higher prices for services eventually being passed on to local employers and their employees.  Other local hospitals contend that the combination may choke their access