Dive Brief:
- On Thursday, the Justice Department and the Michigan Attorney General's Office filed an antitrust lawsuit against four Michigan hospital systems.
- The suit alleged that the four systems agreed to limit their marketing efforts to their own territories.
- According to the lawsuit, the agreement constitutes "unreasonable restraints of trade that are per se illegal" under both federal and state law.
Dive Insight:
Three of the four hospital systems, Hillsdale Community Health Center, the Community Health Center of Branch County and Toledo-based ProMedica Health System, have chosen to settle out of court. As part of the settlement, the systems are prohibited from entering into future agreements with competitiors that limit their marketing efforts to their own territories and from communicating with competitors about their marketing strategies. The systems will also now be required to hire or appoint antitrust compliance officers, pay the state of Michigan $5,000 in attorneys fees and other related costs and to cooperate with the investigations or trials of other defendants.
The fourth hospital system, Allegiance Health, is planning to fight the charges in court.
Before entering into any type of agreement with competitors, it would be wise for hospitals to have their attorneys or compliance officers review the agreement to make sure it is not in violation of antitrust laws.