Tim Greaney, a law professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law and an expert on health law, said that hospitals are struggling financially because of the coronavirus pandemic, and that if other judges follow the analysis from this ruling, it could be harder for the government to argue against mergers in the future.

“There will be certainly an inclination or a tendency to reach out and say, ‘Well, we need to merge because of our financial difficulties,’” he said.