Dive Brief:
- Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care are one step closer to merging to form the 10th largest nonprofit healthcare system in the U.S. after receiving regulatory approval from both the Federal Trade Commission and Illinois.
- The merger would create a new company, deemed Advocate Aurora Health, with 27 hospitals, 3,300 physicians and 70,000 other employees.
- "Advancing through the FTC’s review process was a key milestone in addition to securing regulatory approval in Illinois. We look forward to the final step of receiving approval in Wisconsin before our anticipated closing this spring," the two companies said in a joint statement.
Dive Insight:
The FTC approval is notable given Advocate's effort to merge with NorthShore University Health System fell apart after the federal agency challenged the deal. At the time, FTC argued the merger would raise prices for consumers by 8% and potentially lower quality of care.
Advocate has argued its attempt to merge with Wisconsin-based Aurora would not run into the same challenges given the increased geographic variance between the two health systems.
Provider consolidation has been a been a trend in recent years as investors have put increased pressure on health systems.
Advocate and Aurora first announced plans to merge in December. The deal still is awaiting approval from Wisconsin regulators.