A federal grand jury in Denver returned a two-count indictment charging DaVita and its former CEO, Kent Thiry, for conspiring with competing employers not to solicit certain employees. DaVita owns and operates outpatient medical care centers across the country, focusing on dialysis and kidney care.
These charges are the result of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into employee allocation agreements in the health care industry. DaVita’s co-conspirator, Surgical Care Affiliates and its related entity (collectively SCA), were charged in January, and that case is pending in the Northern District of Texas.
The indictment alleges that DaVita and Thiry both participated in two separate conspiracies to suppress competition for the services of certain employees. Count One charges DaVita and Thiry for conspiring with SCA to allocate senior-level employees by agreeing not to solicit each other’s senior-level employees from as early as February 2012 until as late as July 2017.
“Those who conspire to deprive workers of free-market opportunities and mobility are committing serious crimes that we will prosecute to the full extent of the law,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We are grateful for our partnership with the FBI and our shared commitment to rooting out illegal collusion targeting labor markets.”
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