Attorney General Todd Rokita announces opposition to consolidated healthcare monopoly, which would stifle healthcare industry innovation
APRIL 25, 2025
Attorney General Todd Rokita’s Office opposes a proposed merger of two Vigo County hospitals, he has informed Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) officials.
IDOH must soon decide to either deny the merger or permit the consolidation and monopolization of Terre Haute’s only two hospitals.
“We all understand that hospitals face distinct challenges, but consolidation at the expense of free-market competition is not the way to address those challenges in this case,” Attorney General Rokita said. “In fact, the creation of a regional monopoly would impose a negative impact on Hoosiers in the area seeking quality health care and affordable costs.”
In 2021, the Indiana General Assembly passed Indiana’s Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) statute allowing certain health care entities to merge with antitrust immunity. The condition is that IODH must find that the merger will “benefit the population’s health outcomes, healthcare access, and quality of care” in excess of any detriment felt by reduced competition.
No such benefits would materialize from this proposed merger, Attorney General Rokita said.
Hospital officials first filed their application for a COPA in September 2023 but withdrew it after more than a year — just days before IDOH was set to make its decision. The hospitals reapplied in February 2025.
The consolidation of Union and Terre Haute Regional hospitals, Attorney General Rokita wrote in a letter to IDOH officials, would “lead to the monopolization of Terre Haute hospital systems that (would) be unchecked in raising healthcare costs, stifling innovation, suppressing wages, and reducing access to care for the citizens of Terre Haute and the surrounding community.”
The Department of Health will host a town hall on May 1, 2025, at the Ivy Tech campus in Terre Haute to discuss the implications of this merger on the Wabash Valley Community. Attorney General Rokita encourages all impacted and concerned citizens to attend the town hall and welcomes all comments regarding the anticompetitive effects of this merger.
“Rural healthcare presents unique problems and concerns for Indiana,” Attorney General Rokita wrote. “The quality of care and travel distances are obstacles to our rural residents receiving consistent, quality healthcare. Additionally, most rural hospitals face considerable challenges recruiting skilled professionals to less populated areas.”
He added, however, that those challenges do not justify consolidation in this case because such a step would not help alleviate them.
“The solution is competition between strong competitors that fosters efficiency, ingenuity, and technological advancement,” Attorney General Rokita wrote.
The full letter is attached here.
