Pillar 02

Hospital Consolidation

FTC authority · Merger review · Noncompetes

ModerateFAH helped kill the expanded merger form in court and asked the FTC to presume physician noncompetes are fair. The FTC is settling hospital deals, not blocking them.

Last verified November 6, 2026

FAH position

FAH argues hospital mergers are needed for survival and opposes expanded federal and state premerger reporting. It asks the FTC to treat physician and executive noncompetes as presumptively lawful.

Where it stands

Status as of November 2026

February 12, 2026A federal court in Texas vacated the FTC's 2024 expanded Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger form. AHA and FAH had filed an amicus brief for the plaintiffs in August 2025. source
September 5, 2025The FTC gave up its noncompete rule, acceding to vacatur and dropping its appeals by a 3 to 1 vote. source
August 25, 2026The FTC let Ascension's $3.9 billion purchase of AmSurg close by consent order. Ascension divests seven surgery centers and must give the FTC prior notice before buying any surgery center in those five metros. source
January 30, 2026FTC consent order: Sevita must divest 128 intermediate care facilities to close its $835 million purchase of BrightSpring's community living business. source
November 30, 2025Indiana approved the Union Health and Terre Haute Regional merger under a certificate of public advantage over FTC staff and state attorney general objections. FTC staff put the combined share at 74% of commercially insured inpatient care. source
September 1, 2026No FTC suit to block a hospital-to-hospital merger was found for 2025 or 2026. OhioHealth abandoned its Fairfield Medical Center deal after an FTC investigation; Adena Health then announced it would buy Fairfield. source

Legislation

Bills in the 119th Congress

Bill	Title	Sponsor	Cosponsors	Status
S. 4085 / H.R. 7920	Take Back Our Hospitals Act of 2026 (bars hospitals owned by certain investment firms from Medicare)	Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) / Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)	NOT FOUND	Introduced March 12, 2026; in committee (2026-03-12)

FAH on the record

Letters, comments and statements

May 21, 2025FAH letter to FTC Chairman Ferguson and the DOJ antitrust chief. The noncompete rule distorts competition between nonprofit and taxpaying hospitals. State mini-HSR acts burden mergers. The physician-owned hospital ban must stay. source
August 8, 2025Joint AHA and FAH amicus brief in Chamber of Commerce v. FTC, arguing mergers are crucial to help hospitals survive and that no problematic hospital merger has evaded review. source
November 3, 2025FAH comment on the FTC's noncompete inquiry. It asks the agency to presume that senior executives and physicians are fair subjects for noncompetes. It also asks the FTC to defer to 19 state physician-noncompete laws. source

The evidence

•KFF, 2024 data: 97% of metropolitan areas are highly concentrated for inpatient hospital care under the 2023 merger guidelines. One or two systems controlled the whole inpatient market in 47% of metros. source
•The August 2025 HSR amicus brief is the only FAH court filing on merger review found for 2025 and 2026. source
•The joint AHA and FAH brief of July 29, 2024 asked a federal court to vacate the FTC noncompete rule, which covered hospital-employed physicians. source

What it means for physicians

The two tools that keep an independent physician independent are a competitive local market and the freedom to leave an employer. FAH's 2025 filings worked against both, and the 2026 record shows the FTC settling rather than suing. A physician in a consolidated metro now negotiates with one or two buyers, under a noncompete FAH wants presumed fair.

Sources