BATON ROUGE — The $3.3 billion purchase of Baton Rouge-based home healthcare and hospice provider Amedisys may be put on hold after a Department of Justice lawsuit was filed.

The DOJ is suing to prevent UnionHealth Group's acquisition of the Baton Rouge company. The suit, filed in Maryland court on Tuesday, says that the acquisition would harm competition in the home healthcare and hospice industry. 

UnitedHealth's acquisition of the Lafayette-based LHC Group made them one of the two largest companies in the industry, with the other being Amedisys, the DOJ said. 

Amedisys' corporate headquarters is on Coursey Boulevard near Sherwood Forest Boulevard