With the Federal Trade Commission coming out against the deal on antitrust grounds, Northern Virginia's five-hospital Inova Health System has given up on its plans to acquire Prince William Health System. The non-profit Inova system said it was giving up because the FTC challenge could easily have delayed the merger by as much as two years, a delay it apparently found unacceptable. In early May, the FTC filed an administrative complaint contending that adding Prince William Hospital would allow the Falls Church, VA-based Inova system to gain too much control of the region's hospital market, giving it enough leverage to force up managed-care reimbursement for inpatient services.

To learn more about the deal:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [1] (reg. req.)

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