A consent decree allowing formation of a Morton Plant Mease partnership was entered in 1994 after Florida and the U.S. Justice Department charged that a proposed merger between Morton Plant Hospital and Mease hospitals in would violate antitrust law. Included in the consent decree was a requirement that Morton Plant and the Mease hospitals keep separate information on managed care contracts and negotiations. Florida and US DOJ charged that Morton Plant Mease violated that provision when it set up a joint managed care office and gave health maintenance organizations the option of dealing with that office rather than negotiating with the hospitals separately. To settle the charges, Morton Plant and Mease hospitals agreed, among other things, to strictly adhere to the separate managed care contracting provision and pay $300,000 to charitable groups.