ProMedica Health System can end the “in network” relationship between its insurance arm and an Ohio hospital, St. Luke’s, which was bought by Michigan-based McLaren Health after the collapse of a merger between St. Luke’s and ProMedica, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati ruled.
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday, August 10, revoked a preliminary injunction that had required the insurance subsidiary, Paramount, to keep doing business on in-network terms with McLaren St. Luke’s pending antitrust litigation over ProMedica’s decision to terminate the contracts.
In the lawsuit, McLaren claims ProMedica conducted “monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior designed to maintain and increase its dominant market position by limiting patient choice and causing harm to St. Luke’s and its affiliated physicians.”
The lawsuit also alleges ProMedica terminated eight long-standing service agreements with McLaren St. Luke’s and WellCare, pressured ProMedica surgeons to stop practicing at St. Luke’s, and ended its Michigan hospitals’ agreements with the McLaren Health plan.
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