A federal judge on Tuesday, December 8, rejected a bid by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Pennsylvania Attorney General to temporarily block Thomas Jefferson University’s acquisition of the Einstein Healthcare Network, reported Biz Journals.
The FTC’s case failed to mesh with the reality of the Philadelphia-area health care market and relied on testimony from health insurers that was “not credible,” concluded US District Judge Gerald J. Pappert. The 62-page decision came after six days of testimony in September.
The FTC could appeal Pappert’s denial of its preliminary injunction request to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.
If Pappert’s ruling stands, Jefferson would cement its position as the biggest hospital network in the Philadelphia area and give it a chance to radically change the region’s health-care marketplace by integrating with an insurance company it already partly owns. The deal also throws a lifeline to financially struggling Einstein, which has said it needed the merger to stay afloat.
Barry Freedman, Einstein’s president and chief executive, wrote in a note to staff that ”we are eager to move forward. However, we await a decision as to whether the FTC and Pennsylvania Attorney General will appeal the District Court decision, and whether we will be forced to spend more time litigating a deal that would benefit the people we serve.”
