FTC prescribes careful voting on COPA bill in Tennessee legislature

The Federal Trade Commission is cautioning the Tennessee General Assembly to allocate more time for a proposed end to a certificate of public advantage that could bring more healthcare competition to Northeast Tennessee.

The agency says the quality of care could suffer and consumer prices could increase without the state supervision the agreement gives to Ballad Health—part of the original 2018 plan with the Mountain States Health merger.

The FTC agrees with another bill in the legislature that would decrease the certificate of need qualifications to usher in new healthcare business and care—one of the recommendations of President Trump’s plan to improve medical care in rural areas of the US.

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