Detroit Medical Center is the lone defendant in a class-action lawsuit brought by registered nurses in the Detroit area, as seven other health systems agreed to a settlement of $48 million combined, according to a Crain's Detroit Business report.
A class of more than 20,000 registered nurses filed suit in 2006, claiming eight hospital systems in the Detroit area colluded to keep pay scales for RNs artificially lower than what market forces dictated.
Seven of the hospitals have settled since the suit was filed, including St. John Providence Health System in Warren, Oakwood Healthcare System in Dearborn and the former Bon Secours Health System (it was acquired by Beaumont in 2007).
Last week, a judge signed an order to distribute settlement funds to the nurses of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, the former Mt. Clemens General Hospital (now McLaren Macomb Hospital in Mt. Clemens) and Trinity Health Michigan, which is now a division of Livonia-based CHE Trinity Health.
An attorney representing DMC's former owner, VHS of Michigan, a subsidiary of Vanguard Health Systems, said the hospital expects to take its case to trial. The hospital is now owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which acquired Vanguard in a deal that closed last month.
A trial would likely begin next summer.
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