Hospitals May Maintain Exclusive Practice & Exclude Outside Doctors

In Four Corners Nephrology Associates PC et al. v. Mercy Medical Center, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s decision, ruling that Colorado’s Mercy Medical Center did not break federal or state antitrust laws when it gave a single provider exclusive rights to in-house nephrology services, because the hospital had no antitrust duty to share its facilities with outside doctors at the expense of its own nephrology practice.  The court further held that plaintiff’s claims were misplaced because he was seeking to join, rather than undo, the hospital’s putative monopoly – an action that runs counter to very purpose of antitrust laws seeking to advance competition rather than advantage competitors. 

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