UnitedHealth, Amedisys ask federal judge to dismiss DOJ lawsuit blocking $3.3B merger
Days after announcing that the closure of its acquisition of home-care company Amedisys would be delayed, UnitedHealth Group has asked a federal court to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Both companies argued in a joint filing that the DOJ has failed to show how the $3.3 billion merger would diminish competition in the market.
In a legal motion submitted Jan. 8, Amedisys and UnitedHealth said the DOJ had failed to specify which regions of the U.S. would suffer as a result of the merger. While the agency cites hundreds of local home-care markets, labor markets and “dozens of hospice markets” that could potentially lack adequate competition due to UnitedHealth’s takeover of Amedisys, the DOJ did not provide more specific details, according to the companies.
They are asking the court to dismiss the case outright and allow Amedisys to join UnitedHealth under its Optum banner, which includes Change Healthcare, a pharmacy benefit manager group, medical clinics and associated technology.
The crux of the argument against the DOJ’s complaint lies in the word “local,” which the companies argue has not been clearly defined and could apply to anything from a single city to a large region of the country. UnitedHealth and Amedisys contend that the court should dismiss the case given the lack of evidence of antitrust law violations.
In its complaint, the DOJ attached a long list of locations owned by both UnitedHealth and Amedisys, all of which would belong to the former in the event of a merger. However, the companies maintain that this does not prove anything, as the DOJ has failed to “allege where competition will be affected, or identify principles for determining where competition occurs.”
Given the merger has been under investigation by the DOJ for more than a year, the companies argue that a legal complaint should be required to be more specific.
As of Friday afternoon, the DOJ has not responded to the filing, and its case is still moving forward. The agency filed a lawsuit in November to block the merger, contending that it would overly consolidate the hospice and home-health market.
According to coverage from Bloomberg, UnitedHealth offered to sell more than 100 clinics to address the concerns of regulators, but that gesture failed to persuade the DOJ. The merger, which was expected to be finalized this month, has now been indefinitely delayed.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.