Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, et al. v. St. Luke's Health System, Ltd., et al
Posted on Mar 4, 2015 2:31pm PST
On February 10, 2015, the Ninth Circuit in
Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, et al. v. St. Luke’s Health System,
Ltd., et al. affirmed a district court’s holding that the proposed merger between
health care providers St. Luke’s Health System and Saltzer Medical
Group violated federal antitrust law. Pearson, Simon & Warshaw, LLP
partner Bruce L. Simon represented
amicus curiae Catalyst for Payment Reform in the filing of an amicus brief supporting
the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to the merger and affirmance
of the district court’s order. Catalyst for Payment Reform, a non-profit
organization working to promote high-value health care in the United States
by improving how consumers pay for health care services, argued that consolidation
of health care providers leads to higher costs and lower quality in the
health care market. The Ninth Circuit sided with plaintiffs and
amici curiae making this argument, finding that the district court did not err in holding
that defendants failed to demonstrate efficiencies resulting from the
merger would have a positive effect on competition.