Health First’s monopoly case. Rockledge, Fla.-based Health First is facing an antitrust lawsuit accusing it of maintaining a monopoly by “intimidating physicians or otherwise obstructing their ability to practice medicine in south Brevard County if they do not play ball with Health First and refer patients exclusively to Health First hospitals and physician specialists,” according to a Florida Today report. According to the complaint, which was filed by several plaintiffs, including Melbourne, Fla.-based multispecialty group Omni Healthcare, Health First’s monopoly began with its 2013 purchase of Melbourne (Fla.) Internal Medicine Associates, a multispecialty physician group. The lawsuit refers to the MIMA deal as a “merger to monopoly,” according to Florida Today. The complaint states Health First controls more than 70 percent of the acute inpatient hospital market in south Brevard County and “physicians participating in its health plans send only 15 percent of their patients to competitor Wuesthoff Medical Center-Melbourne,” according to the report. Health First’s consolidation in Florida raises many questions. “For instance, if the consolidated entity owns all the hospitals in the relevant geographic area, must it provide admitting privileges to physicians outside the group?” says Mr. Cernak. This case is currently pending in federal court in Florida.
Case: Mergers and acquisitions are common, but the federal government scrutinizes these types of activities and act against them to benefit consumers. Read the attached article from Modern Health (2015) and choose one of the 5 cases mentioned to analyze. You will find it helpful to research the case more and include additional references (non Wiki).

Instructions: Prepare an analysis of the case that describes the legal issues. 

Address the following questions to generate your conclusions about the case: What are the legal issues? 

What must health care organizations consider before deciding on acquisitions and mergers? 

How does antitrust impact consumers (patients)? 

 Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines. Neither an abstract or title page is required. See syllabus for more details on required length and format for case study analyses.