Put up a parking lot: The Tipline for 17 July 2020

With the coronavirus pandemic overwhelming a Georgia community’s only hospital, the state has repurposed shipping containers as intensive care units for covid-19 patients in Phoebe Putney Health’s parking lot. Seven years ago, the Federal Trade Commission found itself unable to unwind that hospital’s acquisition of rival Palmyra Medical Center – despite a Supreme Court ruling in the agency’s favour – because state regulators deemed Albany, Georgia, to be “over-bedded”. Construction of a competing hospital is now in progress just a few miles away and Phoebe has objected to its second request to extend building time.