DOJ first filed suit in June 2015 against four hospital systems — Hillsdale (Mich.) Community Health Center; Community Health Center of Branch County in Coldwater, Mich.; ProMedica Health System in Toledo, Ohio; and Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson, Mich.
The suit alleges the hospitals violated antitrust laws by agreeing to allocate specific areas to each organization for marketing healthcare services, thereby minimizing marketing and advertising competition in each hospital’s respective county.
The four hospitals operate acute care facilities in four adjacent counties and compete with one another to provide many of the same healthcare services.
Henry Ford Allegiance is the only defendant that did not settle. The hospital’s case is scheduled for a bench trial in October.
“Henry Ford Allegiance Health believes the court acknowledges the merits of its position and recognizes the issue is complex and multifaceted, and not as simple as the Department of Justice suggests,” hospital officials said in a statement to Lexology June 1.
“Henry Ford Allegiance Health reaffirms its belief that the health system’s conduct promoted competition in south central Michigan and benefited the citizens of Hillsdale County in undeniable and, at times, life-saving ways.”
The DOJ declined to comment to Lexology.
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