Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health called off its planned $320 million acquisition of two North Carolina hospitals from Community Health Systems.
Here are four things ASCs need to know:
1. Novant Health called off the deal after an appellate court granted the Federal Trade Commission an emergency injunction blocking the deal. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it would allow the FTC to prevent the two-hospital acquisition from proceeding until its appeal is resolved.
2. The FTC has been fighting to block the acquisition of the two hospitals from Franklin, Tenn.-based CHS for over a year, arguing the transaction would "irreversibly consolidate the market for hospital services in the Eastern Lake Norman Area in the northern suburbs of Charlotte."
3. "With the FTC's continued roadblocks we do not see a way to finalize this transaction," Novant said in a June 18 statement shared with Becker's. "The communities served by these facilities deserve better than the fate they've been dealt by the FTC so we will look for other ways to support patients and clinicians in these communities."
4. Community Health Systems said in a June 19 news release it is "evaluating the current operations" at its two hospitals after the deal was called off. In the interim, there will be no disruption to patient care or other immediate changes.