A U.S. district judge Tuesday denied another motion from the Federal Trade Commission to block Novant Health's acquisition of two North Carolina hospitals from Community Health Systems while the case is being appealed.
Judge Kenneth Bell did, however, extend a temporary restraining order on the transaction until 12 p.m. June 21, giving the FTC time to request a similar injunction from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Novant and Community Health Systems had previously been authorized to close the deal Wednesday.
Related: Community Health Systems to exit North Carolina
Last week, Bell, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, denied the FTC's March request for a preliminary injunction to halt Novant's $320 million acquisition of Community Health Systems' Mooresville-based Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and Statesville-based Davis Regional Medical Center.
Bell said the benefits of keeping Davis Regional open and adding services at Lake Norman Regional outweighed concerns about market competition.
The FTC plans to appeal that decision in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and filed a request for an injunction Monday to block the pending acquisition as it does so.
Bell denied the motion.
"The FTC ignores the balancing of equities that compelled the court’s decision," Bell said in Tuesday's order. "The FTC asks the court to put in place for an indeterminate time the very injunction the court decided [last week] should not be entered while the FTC pursues a planned appeal."
Bell granted the FTC's alternate request to extend the temporary restraining order, allowing the agency to ask the Fourth Circuit for an injunction pending appeal. A temporary restraining order is typically an emergency act that precedes a more permanent injunction.
"The Court of Appeals would have had at most only a single day to consider the FTC’s injunction request" before the Novant-CHS deal was authorized to close June 12, Bell said.
"This court will not put the Court of Appeals under that time pressure," he said.
The FTC and Community Health Systems declined to comment on the latest ruling.
"We have been trying to move this transaction forward for well over a year and are disheartened that the FTC continues to impede the progress of healthcare and the restoration of specialty services. Our hope is that this extension is the final delay," Novant said in a statement.
Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant opposed the FTC's Monday injunction request, alleging in a filing the same day that the agency's actions were a strategic move to force the appellate court into granting an emergency injunction.
The FTC sued in January to block Novant's proposed acquisition announced in early 2023, arguing it would harm market competition and drive up costs. Novant, which has 19 hospitals and more than 850 other locations across the Carolinas, has been looking to grow its footprint in recent months.
