US: Sutter wants competitor pricing data in antitrust suit

Sutter Health has subpoenaed pricing information for 50 California hospitals in response to a lawsuit that accuses the Sacramento-based system of antitrust practices, according to a report from Healthcare Dive.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit against Sutter earlier this year that alleged the system uses its market power in Northern California to charge higher prices.

Spokeswoman Thoma Tan said the lawsuit “gets the facts wrong and mischaracterizes how Sutter serves patients and communities as a not-for-profit organization in the competitive Northern California healthcare environment.”

In response to the lawsuit, Sutter requested the contracting information from competing hospitals between 2000 and 2012. Competitors like El Camino Hospital and Good Samaritan protested the request.

“The court has agreed that contracts and pricing from other hospitals are relevant in the case, and while Sutter won’t ever see this information, in order to defend ourselves and demonstrate that the plaintiffs’ claims are false, this information provides important evidence of the actual prices in California and the contracting terms commonly used in the industry. Sutter will use the information to provide an accurate picture of what the healthcare industry really looks like in California,” Tan said.

Full Content: HealthCare Dive