Case Description
After joint investigation,United States and Connecticut alleged that sole hosptial in Danbury Connecticut conspired with physicians to preclude entry of managed care plans into the market. Consent decree was entered. The decree prohibited the hospital from, among other things, discouraging physicians from contracting with payors, obtaining rights of first refusal from providers for contracting with payors, and disclosing commercially sensitive information about one physician to any other physician except in limited circumstances. The order barred physicians from owning an interest in any organization that sets, negotiates, or expresses views on competitive terms and conditions for competing physicians. Limited exceptions were included for bona fide integrated delivery system joint ventures, which would need to include risk sharing features. If physician participation is to surpass specified levels, then certain physicians would have to be contracting providers without being members of the joint venture entity itself, in an arrangement that preserved the entity’s incentive to bargain hard with the additional contracting providers.
