The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that it is filing a lawsuit to stop HCA Healthcare, which operates MountainStar Healthcare in Utah, from acquiring five Steward Health Care hospitals in the state. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that it is filing a lawsuit and administrative appeal against a healthcare merger in Utah.
HCA Healthcare, known as Utah’s MountainStar Healthcare, announced that it acquired Steward Health Care System’s five Utah hospitals in September. However, the FTC is trying to stop the merger, which it says would eliminate competition in the Wasatch Front region.
“As the second and fourth largest healthcare systems in Utah’s Wasatch Front region, which surrounds Salt Lake City, HCA Healthcare and Steward Health Care System help keep costs down for consumers through intense competition,” the FTC said Holly Vedova, Director of the Competitions Bureau, in a statement.
According to Vedova, competition between the two companies results in both lower prices and innovative services that would be lost in a merger. The FTC statement said that HCA Healthcare and Steward Health Care System compete for insurer involvement, healthcare quality, and nurses and doctors.
Steward Health Care is currently a low-cost competitor to inpatient general acute hospital services, and a merger could change that. The FTC said a merger would allow HCA to increase its rates and some of those costs would be passed on to employers and health plan members through increased premiums, deductibles and expenses.
According to the statement, the FTC voted unanimously to authorize a request for a restraining order and an injunction that would halt the merger until the lawsuit is resolved. An administrative procedure is scheduled to begin on December 13.
A public version of the lawsuit is not yet available.
In announcing the acquisition agreement, HCA Healthcare said the additional facilities would help them meet growing healthcare needs in Utah.
“We believe the addition of these facilities will help us improve healthcare network options for patients and enable investment in services to meet increasing healthcare demand. We look forward to welcoming them to the HCA Healthcare family,” said CEO Sam Hazen.
Steward Health Care-owned hospitals in the state include Davis Hospital in Layton, Jordan Valley Medical Center in West Jordan, Jordan Valley Medical Center-West Valley Campus, Mountain Point Medical Center in Lehi, and Salt Lake Regional Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
HCA Healthcare’s MountainStar Hospitals in Utah include Brigham City Community Hospital, Cache Valley Hospital in North Logan, Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Lone Peak Hospital in Draper, Mountain View Hospital-Payson, Ogden Regional Medical Center , St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City and Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem.
Another Utah healthcare system completed its own merger in April, with Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare joining Colorado’s SCL Health hospital system, making Intermountain the 11th-largest nonprofit healthcare system in the United States. Intermountain officials said the combined companies will employ more than 59,000 people, operate 33 hospitals and 385 clinics in seven states and insure 1 million people in Utah and Idaho.
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Emily Ashcraft joined KSL.com as a reporter in 2021. It covers courts and legal affairs, as well as health, faith and religion news.