The US Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has reached a settlement with health insurer UnitedHealth Group over its $3.3bn acquisition of Amedisys.
UnitedHealth, which previously acquired LHC Group, a competitor to Amedisys, faced legal challenges last year when the Justice Department and state attorneys general moved to block the acquisition.
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Amedisys provides home health and hospice services, and is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The proposed settlement stipulates that UnitedHealth must relinquish ownership of 164 home health and hospice facilities, including one palliative care centre, spread across 19 US states.
These facilities collectively generate annual revenue of around $528m.
Additionally, the settlement imposes a contingency that requires UnitedHealth to divest eight more locations should it encounter regulatory hurdles in the initial divestiture process.
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By GlobalDataTo ensure adherence to the terms, a monitoring body will be appointed to oversee the divestiture and the execution of the consent decree.
The buyers of the divested assets should be equipped with the necessary resources, staff and business relationships to foster competition in areas where UnitedHealth previously had a presence.
Amedisys has also been directed to pay a civil penalty of $1.1m for inaccurately certifying compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
The company is further mandated to conduct antitrust compliance training for its leadership to prevent future misrepresentations in its communications with the US Government.
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General, Abigail Slater, said: “In no sector of our economy is competition more important to Americans’ well-being than healthcare. This settlement protects quality and price competition for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable patients and wage competition for thousands of nurses.”
Earlier this month, UnitedHealth named Wayne DeVeydt as its new CFO, replacing John Rex, who will transition to a strategic advisory role.
