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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has agreed not to sue St. Luke's Health System for purchasing the assets of a Boise rehabilitation hospital as long as St. Luke's limits its contracts with some rehabilitation physicians.
The Idaho Statesman (http://bit.ly/1pW6OZf) reports Wasden's office raised concerns this spring that the purchase could give St. Luke's an unfair advantage in the marketplace if St. Luke's controlled where the rehabilitation doctors refer their patients.
Under the agreement, Wasden won't investigate St. Luke's purchase of most of the assets of the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital. In exchange, for the next two years, St. Luke's won't contract for more than 50 percent of the services provided by Boise Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. That medical group includes doctors who practice at Elks, St. Luke's and Saint Alphonsus Health System Hospitals.
The five-page agreement requires St. Luke's to notify the Attorney General's office if it plans to go over that 50 percent contract limitation for the next five years. The St. Luke's Health System also must not acquire any ownership share, assets or control agreement with Boise Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation under the agreement.
It's not the first time the Idaho Attorney General's office has been worried about a purchase by St. Luke's. Antitrust concerns were at the heart of a lawsuit Wasden, the Federal Trade Commission, Saint Alphonsus and Treasure Valley Hospital brought against St. Luke's over St. Luke's purchase of Saltzer Medical Group in Nampa. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that St. Luke's Health System's year-old buyout of Saltzer Medical Group needed to be undone because it likely would give the hospital dominant control of the market and increase health care costs. St. Luke's is currently appealing that ruling.
Under the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital deal, St. Luke's will purchase equipment and other assets that belong to Elks Rehab System but won't purchase the business itself. St. Luke's will lease the Elks hospital. Neither side has disclosed the price. The Elks Rehab System's board plans to vote Friday to complete the deal.
The Elks system plans to close its patient-care operations Sept. 30. St. Luke's will launch its own expanded rehab program the next day. The 500-plus Elks employees will be laid off, with at least 80 percent of them expected to eventually be hired to work for St. Luke's.
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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com
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