North Dakota Physician Practice Merger Enjoined

Jerome W Hoffman is a Partner in our Jacksonville office.

In Federal Trade Comm'n v. Sanford Health, No. 1:17-133, 2017 WL 7369054 (D. N.D. Dec. 13, 2017), the court preliminary enjoined the merger of two large physician practices in North Dakota's Bismarck/Mandan market on the grounds that the proposed merger would substantially lessen competition in four physician service lines that it deemed separate product markets without close substitutes: general surgery, OB/GYN, adult primary care and pediatric services. As a result of the merger, the combined entity would have had between 80 percent and 100 percent of the market share of the four service lines in question. The court concluded that the evidence did not demonstrate that Sanford's chief competitor, CHI, would be able to recruit enough physicians timely to replace the lost patient referrals. Recruitment of physicians to North Dakota is difficult historically due to the weather and other market conditions.