The American Hospital Association pressed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to affirm a district court's decision to halt Indianapolis-based Anthem's merger with Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna ahead of the insurers' appeal.
The district court's decision, which determined the merger would likely impede competition, is "consistent with the realities that hospitals and health systems experience every day," AHA said in a 32-page friend-of-the-court brief filed last week.
"When payer markets are concentrated, payers — and in particular, this often specifically means Anthem — are slow to shift from traditional fee-for-service reimbursement to systems that reward the ability to deliver better outcomes," according to the AHA.
The D.C. circuit court has expedited Anthem's appeal of the merger's block, and will hear oral arguments for the case March 24. That's about one month before the insurers' April 30 merger agreement deadline.