Connecticut

An Act Concerning Joint Ventures and Affiliations of Group Medical Practices: Public Act No. 14-168 (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 19a-486(i))^[1]

Current Status: Effective since October 1, 2014.

Key Takeaways

Requires parties to provide notice to the Connecticut Attorney General (“CT AG”) for certain transactions involving Connecticut group practices, as well as transactions involving a hospital, hospital system, or other health care provider.
Under the statute, parties must give notice 30 days before the transaction closes to the CT AG.
The statute provides time for the CT AG to review transactions, but does not grant any additional powers to block or modify transactions beyond existing Connecticut antitrust laws.

Applies to specifically enumerated “health care entities”, including:

Hospitals;
Hospital systems;
Group practices with two or more physicians licensed in Connecticut; and
Other health care providers licensed by Connecticut.

The form of the notice depends on whether the parties are required to make certain other filings in connections with the transaction. Two forms of notice are possible, including:

Transactions, including mergers, consolidations, affiliations, acquisitions, employment of all or substantially all physicians, of a group practice including at least two Connecticut licensed physicians with one of the following entities:
- Another group practice, resulting in a group practice with 8 or more physicians; or
- A hospital, hospital system, captive professional entity, medical foundation or other entity organized by, controlled by or otherwise affiliated with such hospital or hospital system.
Transactions in which one party conducting business in Connecticut is a hospital, hospital system, or other health care provider and for which the parties are required to make a filing under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act.

There are no specific revenue thresholds required under the statute.

Parties must provide written notice to the CT AG at least 30 days before the transaction closes.

Parties must submit a limited set of information to the CT AG, including:

A description of the nature of the relationship between the hospital or hospital system and the group practice;
The names and specialties of each physician practicing medicine with the group practice;
The names of the business entities that provide services as part of the group practice and the address for each location where such services are provided;
A description of the services provided at each such location; and
The primary service area served by each such location.

For a HSR reportable transaction, the parties satisfy the notification requirement by informing the CT AG of the transaction, and may be required to share a copy of the HSR filing.

All materials provided to the CT AG will be kept non-public and returned to the providing party after the CT AG’s review has concluded.

There are no enumerated penalties included in the statute.

^[1] Connecticut is considering enacting an additional state healthcare transaction notification law. An overview of this and other proposed laws is available here.

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