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A bill that would make it easier for Georgia hospital authorities to buy and sell hospitals without antitrust scrutiny failed to make it onto the senate floor this session.

House Bill 230 will now sit idle until next January.

Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital officials have received a legal challenge for their purchase of Palmyra Hospital.

Phoebe released a statement about the bill saying, "Certainly from our perspective, clarity around this issue would have been helpful, but in absence of that we are continuing to follow the FTC processes."

Federal Trade Commission officials claim the purchase created a monopoly on healthcare in southwest Georgia and could possibly lead to higher healthcare prices.

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