HCA Healthcare likely to face antitrust case over health costs

Hospital operations giant HCA Healthcare, opens new tab has lost a bid to dismiss a proposed class action in North Carolina federal court accusing it of scheming to restrict competition and artificially drive up costs for health plans.

The prospective class of North Carolina health plans can move ahead with antitrust claims for now against HCA, the country’s largest U.S. for-profit hospital system, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger in Asheville ruled, opens new tab on Tuesday.

Reidinger said the plaintiffs “plausibly assert that defendants’ conduct has harmed competition.”

A representative for Nashville-based HCA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company in court papers had called the plaintiffs’ claims “baseless” and said they only serve to “increase hospitals’ cost of doing business in the form of high litigation expenses.”

Mission Health, which HCA acquired in 2019 and is also a defendant, said in a statement it will “vigorously” contest the allegations.

The consolidated case includes lawsuits from cities and counties across western North Carolina, including Asheville. The plaintiffs first sued in 2022, alleging HCA and its Mission Health system held an unlawful monopoly over general acute care, which includes diagnostic and treatment services at hospitals, and outpatient services.

The plaintiffs alleged HCA forces health plans to accept “all or nothing” contracts that restrict their ability to steer patients to lower priced options.

Eric Cramer, a lawyer for Asheville and other plaintiffs, in a statement said they were pleased that the case was moving forward.

“We expect to gather ample evidence to support our allegations that the defendants used various anticompetitive tactics to monopolize healthcare markets, artificially inflate healthcare prices, and reduce healthcare quality across the region,” the statement said.

HCA operates nearly 200 hospitals in 21 states. The company reported revenue of nearly $65 billion last year. Reuters