by Doug Hardy CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT – The 2022 antitrust lawsuit filed by St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center against Hartford HealthCare and its affiliates has been dismissed following an undisclosed settlement, court documents say.
The 75-page complaint, filed Jan. 11, 2022, sought to remedy a “campaign of exclusion, acquisition, and intimidation” by Hartford HealthCare. It was settled just four days shy of three years after its filing by St. Francis, which is part of the Trinity Health System.
According to the complaint, Hartford HealthCare, particularly Hartford Hospital, provides health care at a higher cost and of lesser quality than other hospitals in the Hartford area.
“In fact, Hartford Hospital’s rates are more than 15% higher than any of Saint Francis, UConn Dempsey, Manchester Memorial, or Bristol Hospital, all of the other hospitals in the area that are not part of Hartford HealthCare,” the complaint said, adding that St. Francis “is graded higher on most quality measures by the federal government.”
Nevertheless, “Hartford HealthCare’s anticompetitive practices have allowed it to increase its dominant position in the market and impose higher prices on care that is of lesser quality to area patients. Because of its market dominance and anticompetitive conduct, Hartford HealthCare has not faced any competitive pressure to improve its prices or quality.”
The complaint also alleged that Hartford HealthCare had directly or indirectly through its subsidiaries acquired numerous physician practices, demanded that its acquired and other physicians refer all or virtually all cases to Hartford HealthCare regardless of whether it would be best for the patients to do so, penalizing doctors who did not, and threatened or intimidated physicians who would not follow Hartford HealthCare’s orders.
Those allegations, among others, led St. Francis to seek both damages and a permanent injunction prohibiting anticompetitive conduct by Hartford HealthCare and its affiliates.
Hartford HealthCare denied the allegations.
In an emailed statement Tuesday, Hartford HealthCare confirmed that a mutually acceptable resolution was reached but did not provide further details.
“At Hartford HealthCare, our focus has never wavered, and our mission has remained clear: to improve the health and healing of all,” the statement said. “The recent recognition by the Leapfrog Group with ‘A’ grades at all seven of our hospitals is a clear reflection of our commitment to providing the safest, highest quality care in the nation.”
St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center was not immediately available for comment.