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The federal government is suing to block a proposed hospital deal in North Carolina, alleging it would hand control of over 65% of the inpatient market in the region to a single provider.

Novant Health’s proposed acquisition of two nearby hospitals is precisely the kind of case antitrust experts would expect the Federal Trade Commission to take on because it would make an already large regional player, Novant, even more powerful. And even though smaller deals like this get less attention than huge, 100-plus hospital mergers, they can still drive up people’s insurance premiums and medical bills.

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In this case, Novant, a nonprofit system with $7.6 billion in 2022 revenue, plans to buy two hospitals in the same county from the for-profit chain Community Health Systems for $320 million. The two hospitals, Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and Davis Regional Medical Center, are only about a 25-minute drive from one another. A Novant spokesperson called the FTC’s position flawed and said the system will pursue available legal responses. CHS spokesperson Tomi Galin wrote in an email that a judge will make the final determination on whether the transaction can proceed and thanked staff for continuing to deliver quality care during the regulatory process.

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