The ink on the deal between two Louisiana hospital systems was barely dry before the Federal Trade Commission claimed the state legislative process that allowed the merger to skirt antitrust review violated federal law.
“Louisiana Children’s Medical Center (LCMC) and HCA Healthcare (HCA) flouted their Hart-Scott-Rodino Act obligations by failing to report their transaction and then consummating it, without filing the required premerger notification and without a cognizable justification or exemption,” wrote FTC Bureau of Competition attorney Neal Perlman in an April 20, 2023, filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
