Plaintiff state and USDOJ filed suit against AzHHA, a trade association that represents more than 100 Arizona hospitals and health
systems. and Its subsidiary, AzHHA Service Corporation, which operates the AzHHA Registry Program. This registry contracts with nursing agencies to provide temporary nursing services to 80 percent of Arizona hospitals, including 80 percent of the hospital beds in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. According to the complaint, AzHHA and its member hospitals used the AzHHA Registry Program to suppress the prices they paid for temporary nursing services. The Registry Program capitalized on the participating hospitals’ significant market power to set rates below
the levels its member hospitals could otherwise have achieved by negotiating independently with each agency. As a result, prevailing wages for temporary nursing personnel fell below competitive levels. AzHHA and AzHHA Service Corporation to halt the alleged price-fixing and information-sharing activities and requires that they institute an antitrust compliance program. AzHHA and AzHHA Service Corporation also agreed to reimburse the Arizona AG office for attorneys’ fees and investigative costs.