Attorney General Peter F. Neronha on Feb. 17 denied a proposed merger between Lifespan Corp. and Care New England Health System due to concerns it would create a monopoly and drive up costs for care.
On the same day, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would file suit in federal district to block the proposed merger between the state’s two largest hospital systems, citing similar concerns.
On Feb. 23, Lifespan and Care New England withdrew their merger application and ended an exclusivity agreement that included partner Brown University that would have prevented the parties from considering other merger proposals. On that same day, a Pennsylvania company, StoneBridge Healthcare LLC, made its second bid to buy Care New England.
StoneBridge proposed a similar deal to acquire CNE in December 2020 that was quickly turned down.
CNE has yet to comment on StoneBridge’s latest proposal.