McLaren St. Luke's Hospital in Maumee, Ohio, has filed an antitrust lawsuit in an attempt to stop Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica from terminating St. Luke's from its insurance network.
ProMedica notified Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care in October that the termination of St. Luke's in-network status will be effective Jan. 1, 2021. McLaren Health Care said the termination notice was issued because of its recent acquisition of St. Luke's, which is expected to provide greater competition to ProMedica.
The lawsuit, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleges ProMedica "engaged in a pattern of monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior designed to maintain and increase its dominant market position by limiting patient choice and causing harm to St. Luke's and its affiliated physicians," according to a Nov. 11 news release from St. Luke's.
In addition to providing notice of its intent to drop 300-bed St. Luke's from its health plan networks, the lawsuit alleges ProMedica also terminated eight contracts to provide services on the St. Luke's campus and pressured physicians to stop practicing at the hospital.
In a statement to Becker's Hospital Review, ProMedica said it does not comment on pending litigation.
"ProMedica looks forward to demonstrating that this frivolous lawsuit from an out-of-state health care system lacks any merit and was filed solely to tarnish ProMedica's reputation," the system said.