A lawsuit accusing Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University Health System of anticompetitive pricing was granted class-action status, making it the first private antitrust class-action related to a hospital merger, according to a brief from McDermott Will & Emery.
The allegations stem from a transaction between NorthShore, formerly Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, and Highland Park (Ill.) Hospital. NorthShore acquired Highland Park in 2000 and the Federal Trade Commission successfully challenged the deal in 2004, but did not order divestiture. Instead, the outcome of that case was that Highland Park's contracts with insurers be negotiated separately from those of NorthShore's other hospitals.
The plaintiffs filed the suit in 2007 in federal court in Chicago. They claim NorthShore's acquisition of Highland Park gave the system unfair power to set prices in Chicago's affluent northern suburbs, according to a Crain's Chicago Business report. The plaintiffs have not specified the amount of damages they seek to recover.
In court filings, NorthShore has denied improperly raising prices.
The parties are due again in court Dec. 16.
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