Posts Tagged ‘hospitals’
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission has closed an investigation it had opened into a completed hospital merger in Texas, the agency announced today.

The agency closed its investigation into Scott & White Healthcare’s purchase of King’s Daughters Hospital in Temple, Texas, after it could not find an alternate buyer. “The unusual circumstances in this case called for an unusual and creative remedy,” said the FTC’s Competition Bureau Director, Richard Feinstein, in a statement about the investigation.

The deal had closed in April.

King Daughters, an acute care facility, was in poor financial health, and Scott & White planned to turn it into a children’s hospital.

The commission, along with the Texas Attorney General’s office, stepped in, arguing that the merger eliminated the only independent competitor to Scott & White in one Texas county.

In order to address the agencies’ concerns, Scott agreed to offer to sell King to another interested hospital chain.

The other potential buyer, the Seton Family of Hospitals, declined the offer, citing King’s deteriorating condition since the merger.

The FTC then closed its investigation.