Antitrust Alert: DOJ Challenges Hospital’s Contracts With Insurers In First Monopolization Case Since 1999

On February 25, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division filed its first monopolization case since 1999. DOJ, along with the Texas Attorney General, allege that United Regional Health Care System used exclusionary contracts to maintain its monopoly in the inpatient and outpatient hospital markets in Wichita Falls, Texas. The parties simultaneously entered into a consent decree settling the charges, which were filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The action deserves attention from business because DOJ has taken a relatively aggressive position on what price discounting by a large company may be unlawful because it deprives smaller rivals of access to revenues from customers that send their business to the larger firm. This also is the first monopolization case filed the Obama Justice Department, which was critical of its predecessor's not having pursued them more vigorously.