North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein encouraged federal courts to move forward with an antitrust lawsuit against Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, Law360 reported Nov. 8.
Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health and its parent company, HCA, are the subjects of three lawsuits alleging they engage in anticompetitive practices, including consolidation across North Carolina markets that allow it to charge double the typical costs of service. HCA in October told Becker's it would "vigorously defend" itself throughout the legal process and asked to have the suits tossed.
Mr. Stein said the courts should thoroughly investigate the plaintiffs' claims rather than taking Mission Health at its word, according to Law360.
"Accepting Mission Health's argument would allow large hospital systems — the number of which is ever increasing — to evade scrutiny based on little more than their own self-interested assessment of the effects of their practices on competition," Mr. Stein wrote in an amicus brief.
In a Nov. 8 statement, Mr. Stein alleged HCA's widening control over Western North Carolina has forced residents to pay more for healthcare.
"We cannot allow hospitals to break the law to break North Carolinians' bank accounts," he said. "The allegations laid out in this case are serious, and the municipalities deserve to have their day in court."