UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys have terminated their deal to sell medical centers to VitalCaring Group, scuttling a transaction aimed at easing antitrust concerns over a tie-up in the home health and hospice services industry. The deal, disclosed in June, was meant to offload assets as UnitedHealth and Amedisys explored a merger. Health insurer UnitedHealth and home health company Amedisys were, at that time, in talks for a $3.3 billion merger. In November, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the merger.
In the complaint, the government said that if UnitedHealth’s acquisition of Amedisys went through, UnitedHealth would control more than 30% of the home health or hospice services in eight states. That concentration would allow UnitedHealth to demand higher payments from third-party Medicare Advantage plans, which pay for such care, according to the government. Optum, an arm of UnitedHealth, and Amedisys at the time said they remain committed to the deal, which remains pending. The sale of the medical centers to VitalCaring was meant to ease government concerns about the increasingly concentrated healthcare market. The divestiture package included some Amedisys home health centers and some locations owned by Optum.
