Proposed health provider merger to go before appeals panel

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Attorneys for Dakotas-based Sanford Health and Bismarck’s Mid Dakota Clinic will make a last-ditch effort next month to merge.

The two agreed to merge last year but a federal judge blocked the move. The judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission and the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office, which argued that the merger could result in antitrust law violations.

The health care providers appealed. The Bismarck Tribune reports that arguments are scheduled before a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A decision typically takes a few months. Court documents indicate that Sanford and Mid Dakota will abandon their plan if the injunction blocking the merger is upheld.

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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com