Four states and the U.S. Department of Justice brought a lawsuit seeking to block the acquisition of Amedysis, Inc. by UnitedHealth Group, Inc.  The plaintiff states and DOJ alleged that the defendants are two of the largest home health and hospice service providers in the country and that their merger would eliminate competition between the two in hundreds of local markets in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act.  They further allege that a proposed divestiture to VitalCaring Group would not sufficiently preserve competition.

In December 2025, the district court approved a settlement reached by the plaintiff states and DOJ with the parties.  The settlement required the parties to divest at least 164 home health and hospice location in 19 states.  Amedisys was also required to pay a $1.1 million civil penalty to the United States for falsely certifying that it had provided “true, correct, and complete” responses under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.