The Justice Department and two states have ended their legal effort to block UnitedHealth Group’s $13 billion purchase of technology company Change Healthcare.
The agency and attorneys general in New York and Minnesota filed paperwork Monday for the District Court of Columbia to voluntarily dismiss their appeals to the Court of Appeals. The document did not disclose why the agencies and the attorney general dropped their call for a review of Judge Carl Nichols’ decision, which he handed down to the District Court of Columbia last September.
unitedhealth finalized the merger of the technology company in October, and spent $100 million To integrate Change Healthcare into its OptimInsight revenue cycle management arm. UnitedHealth has acquired the claims processing arm of Change Healthcare as a private equity firm for $2.2 billion In September, as required by the rule of Nichols.
The Justice Department and states’ attorneys general did not immediately respond to interview requests Tuesday. UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare separately said they had nothing to share as the transaction was completed.
The Justice Department and attorney general had alleged that the merger would violate antitrust law by giving insurer UnitedHealthcare access to information about how rival carriers structure their clinical networks. They Nichols appealed the decision in November. without disclosing the grounds for his appeal.
The healthcare giant paid $7.8 billion in cash and assumed $5 billion of Change Healthcare’s debt. UnitedHealth expects Change Healthcare to add $800 million to OptumInsight’s revenue this year.