Giving Weight to the Failing Firm Defense, FTC Consents to Physician-Services Merger with Caveats

On October 5, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a Consent Agreement with CentraCare Health (“CentraCare”) to settle competition concerns over CentraCare’s acquisition of St. Cloud Medical Group P.A. (“SCMG”), a competing physician services provider in St. Cloud, Minnesota. According to the FTC, the Consent Agreement is designed to mitigate the anticompetitive effects that would result from the acquisition, but “is premised on the fact that SCMG is a financially failing physician practice group that has been unable to find an alternative purchaser for the entire practice as well as concerns regarding disruptions to patient care and possible physician shortages.” To read the full alert, click here.