The Federal Trade Commission is seeking a preliminary injunction to block Novant Health from acquiring two of Community Health Systems' North Carolina hospitals for $320 million.
The agency, which sued in January to block the deal announced in February 2023, alleges the purchase would be anticompetitive, and alleges the deal would "irreversibly consolidate the market for hospital services in the Eastern Lake Norman Area in the northern suburbs of Charlotte."
Related article: FTC sues to block proposed CHS-Novant hospital sale
The request for the preliminary injunction was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Statesville Division.
The FTC also alleges a transaction would be unlawful because it would give Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant control of 64% share of the market in the Eastern Lake Norman Area. It cited a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, U.S. v. Philadelphia National Bank, that said any single entity cannot have more than a 30% controlling share.
Additionally, the agency alleges that if Novant Health acquires Mooresville, N.C.-based Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and Statesville, N.C.-based Davis Regional Medical Center, it would eliminate competition between Novant Huntersville Medical Center and Lake Norman Regional Medical Center.
"The regulatory process for the planned divestiture of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and Davis Regional to Novant Health is continuing," a spokesperson for Community Health Systems said Monday. "A federal judge will make the final determination on whether the transaction can proceed."
Novant Health did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit filed by the FTC in January is pending.
