On January 25^th, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had authorized a suit to block Novant Health’s proposed acquisition of two hospitals owned by Community Health Systems (CHS) in North Carolina. Nearly a year ago, in February of 2023, Novant Health and Community Health Systems (CHS) signed an Asset Purchase Agreement for Novant to pay $320 million to acquire two North Carolina hospitals from CHS.  According to the FTC’s administrative complaint, the deal would give Novant close to 65% of the local inpatient general acute care services market, which “would likely increase annual healthcare costs by several million dollars”, according to the FTC’s press release.