Lawyers for Pittsburgh-based Highmark and UPMC agreed in principle on a settlement last week that would end a four-year antitrust case between the two, but that tentative agreement has hit some snags, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.
The agreement reached last week would bring an end to the case filed by Pittsburgh-based West Penn Allegheny Health System, which is now owned by Highmark, against UPMC. It would also dismiss UPMC's similar lawsuit against Highmark. Details of the agreement were not released. West Penn needed its board to sign off on the settlement before it moved forward.
Now, Highmark wants to include a guarantee that UPMC won't characterize it as a monopolist in litigation brought by others, including a pending lawsuit against Highmark. In that lawsuit — coined "The Royal Mile case" after one of the plaintiffs, property firm Royal Mile — four plaintiffs are accusing UPMC and Highmark of colluding to increase their rates. This week, the plaintiffs filed a new complaint that claims Highmark kept for-profit insurers out of its health insurance marketplace, as those payers would have charged lower rates.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report included more specific language on Highmark's proposed addition to the settlement agreement: Neither Highmark nor UPMC could "seek to impose liability on any released party" including in "defense in any present or future litigation to which they are both parties."
UPMC has expressed opposition to the added settlement provision, characterizing it as a demand to "give up its rights to defend itself in any present and future litigation involving Highmark," a spokesperson said in the report. UPMC spokesman Paul Wood also said the system could not sign on to a provision that tied its hands in its own legal defense.
UPMC was reportedly planning to portray Highmark as a monopolist in the Royal Mile case, according to indications in Highmark's court filings. The insurer has said it wants to prevent UPMC from using the Royal Mile case as "a 'back door' tactic" to make accusations or "harass" others with "burdensome discovery requests," according to the report.
Mr. Wood said UPMC remains ready to sign the agreement that lawyers agreed to in court last Wednesday. A spokesman for Allegheny Health Network, the Highmark-owned parent of West Penn, could not be reached for comment on whether its board was still planning to meet Thursday and whether it would address the tentative settlement, according to the report.
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