As 2023 legislative sessions wind down, many states are considering bills that would require pre-close review or approval of healthcare transactions by a state agency or attorney general’s office, including one that passed this week in New York.

Although the details vary, these laws would join a growing list of statutes already in place that require pre-close notification of qualifying transactions involving large healthcare entities but also smaller physician and dental groups (or individual providers), management services organizations, pharmacy, medical equipment and health technology companies, and potentially other entities that are adjacent to traditional healthcare services.

Because these laws often entail waiting periods prior to close and disclosure of significant amounts of information — not to mention steep penalties for failing to file — it is critical that providers and other healthcare companies become familiar with these obligations as far in advance of a transaction as possible.

Read on for more information about New York’s new law and similar legislation pending in Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina and Maine — and be sure to subscribe to ongoing coverage of developments in this area in the McGuireWoods State of Healthcare series.