UnitedHealth to Divest Assets in $3.3B Amedisys Acquisition to Preserve Competition

The US Justice Department's Antitrust Division has approved UnitedHealth Group's $3.3 billion acquisition of home health and hospice provider Amedisys with conditions to preserve market competition. The settlement requires UnitedHealth to divest ownership of 164 home health and hospice facilities across 19 states, collectively generating around $528 million in annual revenue.

There is also a contingency for divesting eight additional locations if regulatory challenges arise during the initial divestitures. To ensure compliance with the settlement, a monitoring entity will oversee the divestiture process and enforcement of the consent decree. Additionally, Amedisys must pay a $1.1 million civil penalty for inaccurate compliance certification under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and conduct antitrust compliance training for its leadership. This settlement follows legal challenges from the Justice Department and various state attorneys general due to concerns that UnitedHealth's previous acquisition of LHC Group, a competitor to Amedisys, reduced competition in the home health and hospice sector.

The regulatory focus emphasizes maintaining competition to protect patient care quality and pricing, as well as workforce wage competition in healthcare services. Concurrently, UnitedHealth announced a CFO transition, with Wayne DeVeydt succeeding John Rex. Overall, the decision reflects regulatory efforts to balance consolidation in healthcare insurance and services while addressing antitrust risks affecting payers and providers across multiple states.