University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has filed a written response to an antitrust suit filed by West Penn Allegheny Health System, the same suit UPMC recently tried to halt, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.
UPMC asked a federal judge last week to halt an antitrust suit filed by West Penn in 2009. UPMC claimed that, due to a recent contract agreement with Highmark and Highmark's pending acquisition of West Penn, there is no reason to pursue litigation that may be dropped. The Highmark-UPMC agreement also calls for the lawsuit to be dropped if Highmark's affiliation with West Penn receives regulatory approval.
West Penn Allegheny opposed the stay. UPMC released the following answer in response to the antitrust suit. All of the following statements were shared in the news release:
• "Highmark has illegally dominated the health insurance market in western Pennsylvania for the last 15 years to the detriment of the region's employers, hospitals, doctors and Highmark's own subscribers."
• "WPAHS's purpose has not been to serve as a meaningful competitor in the provider market, but rather to serve as a complicit tool in Highmark's scheme to dominate the regional health insurance market."
• "WPAHS has secretly and artificially been propped up by Highmark as a vehicle to help Highmark protect itself from insurance competition and maintain its health insurance monopoly."
• "Aided by its collusion with WPAHS, Highmark seeks to force UPMC into a long-term contract beyond 2014 solely to preserve its health insurance monopoly, thereby allowing it to charge businesses ever-increasing and exorbitant premiums."
• "Highmark has systematically discriminated against UPMC and in favor of WPAHS by, for example, threatening to steer patients towards WPAHS and away from UPMC and providing grants and reimbursement increases to WPAHS that were not made available to UPMC."
Read the entire text of UPMC's claim against Highmark.
Highmark Seeks to Rejoin Antitrust Suit With UPMC
UPMC Asks Judge to Halt West Penn's Antitrust Suit
UPMC asked a federal judge last week to halt an antitrust suit filed by West Penn in 2009. UPMC claimed that, due to a recent contract agreement with Highmark and Highmark's pending acquisition of West Penn, there is no reason to pursue litigation that may be dropped. The Highmark-UPMC agreement also calls for the lawsuit to be dropped if Highmark's affiliation with West Penn receives regulatory approval.
West Penn Allegheny opposed the stay. UPMC released the following answer in response to the antitrust suit. All of the following statements were shared in the news release:
• "Highmark has illegally dominated the health insurance market in western Pennsylvania for the last 15 years to the detriment of the region's employers, hospitals, doctors and Highmark's own subscribers."
• "WPAHS's purpose has not been to serve as a meaningful competitor in the provider market, but rather to serve as a complicit tool in Highmark's scheme to dominate the regional health insurance market."
• "WPAHS has secretly and artificially been propped up by Highmark as a vehicle to help Highmark protect itself from insurance competition and maintain its health insurance monopoly."
• "Aided by its collusion with WPAHS, Highmark seeks to force UPMC into a long-term contract beyond 2014 solely to preserve its health insurance monopoly, thereby allowing it to charge businesses ever-increasing and exorbitant premiums."
• "Highmark has systematically discriminated against UPMC and in favor of WPAHS by, for example, threatening to steer patients towards WPAHS and away from UPMC and providing grants and reimbursement increases to WPAHS that were not made available to UPMC."
Read the entire text of UPMC's claim against Highmark.
More Articles on Highmark, UPMC and West Penn Allegheny Health System:
West Penn Could Oppose UPMC's Request to Halt Antitrust SuitHighmark Seeks to Rejoin Antitrust Suit With UPMC
UPMC Asks Judge to Halt West Penn's Antitrust Suit