Bill would grant MU Health Care antitrust immunity, expand rural reach: 6 notes

A Missouri Senate bill heard April 15 would allow Columbia-based MU Health Care to expand its reach in rural communities and grant it immunity from antitrust laws within the 25 counties specified in the bill.

Here are six things to know:

1. The bill would give MU Health Care the ability to acquire, manage, lease, purchase, sell, contract for or otherwise acquire an interest in or participate in the ownership or operation of hospitals or other healthcare facilities and providers. The system also would be immune from liability under all federal and state antitrust laws in those 25 counties, according to the bill text.

2. The bill offers a practical solution to rural healthcare challenges by giving MU Health Care the legal clarity needed to partner with rural hospitals before they reach a crisis point, a system spokesperson said in an April 21 statement shared with Becker’s. The spokesperson pointed to the “severe strain” Missouri’s healthcare system is under, with nearly half of the state’s rural hospitals at risk of closure, which could lead to losses of inpatient, emergency and primary care services, as well as local jobs and economic stability.

3. The legislation would allow MU Health Care to collaborate more efficiently with community hospitals and clinics across the 25-county service region by reducing antitrust delays when those facilities request assistance, according to the statement.

4. The bill would not require hospitals to partner with MU Health Care or restrict it from working with other systems, and it includes no funding or financial incentives.

“It simply enables MU Health Care to respond timely and responsibly when we are the partner of choice to stabilize services and preserve long-term access to care,” the spokesperson said.

5. The MU Health Care spokesperson said the bill respects local control and that every partnership the system has entered has been at the request of the hospital board and community.

“More than 85% of MU Health Care’s patients already come from its current service region,” the spokesperson said. “This legislation ensures the system can respond quickly when rural communities ask for help, prevent avoidable closures and keep care close to home.”

6. Opposition to the bill stems from concerns about the proposed antitrust exemption and reduced competition among healthcare providers, the Columbia Missourian reported April 15. Lisa Leathers, BSN, RN, president of the Missouri Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, said Missouri ASCs must either maintain transfer agreements with nearby hospitals or have physicians with admitting privileges, but hospitals are not required to honor those arrangements.

“If this bill passes, specifically with its provisions for antitrust immunity, surgery centers in mid-Missouri would become entirely dependent upon the goodwill of a single entity, MU Health Care, to keep their doors open,” Ms. Leathers told the Missourian.

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