An Act to Require Notice to the Attorney General Prior to the
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 2202
Committee: Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services
Amends: 10 MRSA §1102-B

Legislative Document
No. 2202
H.P. 1481
House of Representatives, February 10, 2026
An Act to Require Notice to the Attorney General Prior to the 
Merger of Certain Health Care Entities as Recommended by the 
Commission to Evaluate the Scope of Regulatory Review and 
Oversight over Health Care Transactions That Impact the Delivery 
of Health Care Services in the State
Reported by Representative MATHIESON of Kittery for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services pursuant to Resolve 2025, chapter 106, 
section 8.
Reference to the Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services 
suggested and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  10 MRSA §1102-B is enacted to read:
§1102-B.  Premerger notification by health care entities
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A.  "Additional documentary material" means the additional documentary material 
filed with a Hart-Scott-Rodino form. 
B.  "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, 
wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities. 
C.  "Filing threshold" means the minimum size of a transaction that requires the 
transaction to be reported under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in effect when a person 
files a premerger notification. 
D.  "Hart-Scott-Rodino Act" means 15 United States Code, Section 18a, as amended. 
E.  "Hart-Scott-Rodino form" means the form filed with a premerger notification, 
excluding additional documentary material. 
F.  "Health care entity" means a health care provider, a health care facility or a provider 
organization.  "Health care entity" does not include a nursing facility as defined by 
Title 22, section 328, subsection 18. 
G.  "Health care facility" means a licensed institution providing health care services or 
a health care setting, including, but not limited to, hospitals and other licensed inpatient 
facilities; health systems consisting of one or more health care entities that are jointly 
owned or managed; ambulatory surgical or treatment centers; residential treatment 
centers; diagnostic, laboratory and imaging centers; freestanding emergency facilities; 
outpatient clinics; and rehabilitation and other therapeutic health settings. 
H.  "Health care provider" means a person, corporation, partnership, governmental unit, 
state institution, medical practice or other entity qualified or licensed under state law 
to perform or provide health care services to persons in the State. 
I.  "Premerger notification" means a notification filed under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act 
with the Federal Trade Commission or the United States Department of Justice, 
Antitrust Division or a successor agency. 
J.  "Provider organization" means any corporation, partnership, business trust, 
association or organized group of persons that is in the business of health care delivery 
or management, whether incorporated or not, that represents one or more health care 
providers in contracting with carriers for the payment of health care services.  "Provider 
organization" includes, but is not limited to, physician organizations, physician-
hospital organizations, independent practice associations, health care provider 
networks, accountable care organizations and management services organizations and 
any other organization that contracts with carriers for payment for health care services. 
2.  Notice requirement.  A health care entity filing a premerger notification shall 
concurrently file a complete electronic copy of the Hart-Scott-Rodino form with the 
Attorney General if: 
A.  The health care entity has its principal place of business in this State; or 
B.  The health care entity or a person the health care entity controls directly or indirectly 
had annual revenue in this State in the most recent calendar year preceding the filing 
of at least 20% of the filing threshold of the goods or services involved in the 
transaction. 
A health care entity that files a Hart-Scott-Rodino form under this subsection shall include 
with the filing a complete electronic copy of the additional documentary material. The 
Attorney General may not charge a fee connected with filing or providing the Hart-Scott-
Rodino form or additional documentary material under this subsection. 
3.  Confidentiality.  Any information provided to the Attorney General under this 
section is confidential, except that the Attorney General may: 
A.  Subject to a protective order entered by an agency, court or judicial officer, disclose 
a Hart-Scott-Rodino form, additional documentary material or other information listed 
in subsection 2 in an administrative proceeding or judicial action if the proposed merger 
is relevant to the proceeding or action;
B.  Share information with the Federal Trade Commission or the United States 
Department of Justice, Antitrust Division or a successor agency; or 
C.  Share information with the attorney general of another state that has enacted a 
substantively equivalent statute that includes confidentiality provisions at least as 
protective as the confidentiality provisions of this subsection. At least 2 business days 
before making a disclosure under this paragraph, the Attorney General shall give notice 
of the disclosure to the health care entity that filed or provided the Hart-Scott-Rodino 
form or additional documentary material under subsection 2. 
4.  Civil penalty.  The failure to provide notice under subsection 2 constitutes a civil 
violation for which a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 per day of noncompliance of 
a health care entity may be adjudged.
SUMMARY
This bill is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, 
Insurance and Financial Services pursuant to Resolve 2025, chapter 106 to implement a 
recommendation from the Commission to Evaluate the Scope of Regulatory Review and 
Oversight over Health Care Transactions That Impact the Delivery of Health Care Services 
in the State.  The joint standing committee has not taken a position on the substance of this 
bill. By reporting this bill out, the joint standing committee is not suggesting and does not 
intend to suggest that it agrees or disagrees with any aspect of this bill; instead, the joint 
standing committee is reporting the bill out for the sole purpose of having a bill printed that 
can be referred to a joint standing committee for an appropriate public hearing and 
subsequent processing in the normal course. The joint standing committee is taking this 
action to ensure clarity and transparency in the legislative review of the proposals contained 
in the bill.
The bill requires a health care entity to provide notice to the Attorney General about a 
pending merger or acquisition at the same time the health care entity is required to notify 
the Federal Trade Commission or the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust 
Division in accordance with federal laws and regulations.