The Jackson, Michigan–based health system agrees to stop coordinated anti-competitive business activities with competitors, but insists that it did nothing wrong.
Henry Ford Allegiance Health has settled its three-year antitrust fight with state and federal prosecutors, just weeks before the case was set for trial in federal court.
The Department of Justice and the Michigan Attorney General’s office filed suit in 2015, alleging that Henry Ford Allegiance Health and three other health systems in south central Michigan carved up the territory and insulated themselves from competition by agreeing to withhold outreach and marketing in each other’s respective counties.
The three other health systems, Hillsdale Community Health Center; Community Health Center of Branch County in Coldwater; and ProMedica Health System in Toledo, OH, settled their suits two years ago.
“As a result of Allegiance’s per se illegal agreement to restrict marketing of competing services in Hillsdale County, Michigan consumers were deprived of valuable services and healthcare information,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim in DOJ’s Antitrust Division said in a media release. “By prohibiting further anticompetitive conduct and educating Allegiance executives on antitrust law, this settlement will ensure that consumers receive the fruits of robust competition.”
The proposed settlement was filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, where the case was scheduled to go to trial on March 6.
Allegiance said in prepared remarks that it felt compelled to settle even though it did nothing wrong.
“We reluctantly chose to settle this litigation because continuing to defend ourselves against the United States and State of Michigan became too costly,” the health system said. “This decision, regrettable but necessary, requires us to discontinue our defense of this case before the Court could rule on any of the highly contested issues raised in the litigation.”
DOJ’s settlement with Allegiance expands on the earlier settlements with the other three health systems, which means that Allegiance cannot communicate, coordinate or limit marketing or business development with competitors. The agreement ends the health system’s carve out in Hillsdale County. Allegiance must also file annual compliance reports and submit to compliance inspections, and reimburse state and federal prosecutors for the court costs.
DOJ said the deal includes several new provisions that are now included in all new consent decrees that add greater specificity and accountability.
“The proposed settlement will make it easier and more efficient for the department to enforce the decree by allowing the department to prove alleged violations by a preponderance of the evidence,” Delrahim said. “These provisions will encourage a stronger commitment to compliance and will ease the strain on the department in investigating and enforcing possible violations.”
Patricia Wagner, an antitrust attorney with Epstein Becker Green and a disinterested observer, said DOJ is applying more rigorous benchmarks for its consent decrees.
“When you do your annual report you have to document that everybody got their four hours of training and you have to provide the materials that were used in those training sessions. If DOJ asks, you’d have to provide a lot of who had what conversations, and when,” Wagner said. “Instead of just having a general ‘you will comply with this consent order and verify annually that you are doing so,’ it is giving organizations the steps that DOJ thinks they need to take in order to comply with the consent judgements.”
“If I am a CEO of a hospital maybe I am thinking about how to get ahead of this situation. Should I have someone who is responsible for antitrust compliance?” she said. “All hospitals have large compliance programs that are usually focused, as they should be, on fraud and abuse and licensure issues. It seems like a natural evolution to say ‘maybe we should be thinking about including antitrust in that larger compliance program.'”
Henry Ford Allegiance Health operates the only hospital in Jackson County, MI. The system also operates primary care, physical rehabilitation, and diagnostic facilities in several counties in south central Michigan. Allegiance joined Henry Ford Health System in 2016.
Allegiance’s statement in full reads as follows:
Allegiance Health and the Department of Justice have settled an antitrust case brought by the DOJ against Allegiance Health in 2015. The original complaint alleged that Allegiance Health entered into an agreement with Hillsdale Community Health Center to limit marketing in Hillsdale County.
We reluctantly chose to settle this litigation because continuing to defend ourselves against the United States and State of Michigan became too costly. This decision, regrettable but necessary, requires us to discontinue our defense of this case before the Court could rule on any of the highly contested issues raised in the litigation.
We still deny unlawful conduct of any kind, and the settlement does not include any admission of liability. Despite almost three years of litigation, there was no finding of wrong doing by the Court, and, as recently as December, the Court contemplated dismissing the action in its entirety. In addition, the Court has never ruled that the citizens of Hillsdale County were harmed by our marketing strategy.
We reaffirm our belief that we promoted competition in south central Michigan and benefitted the citizens of Hillsdale County in undeniable ways. The terms of the settlement allow us to continue our marketing strategies in order to best serve the people of south central Michigan including Hillsdale County.
HENRY KOTULA 