The Impact of Recent Antitrust Case Law on Health Care Professionals

Abstract

The application of the antitrust laws to the health care field has generated intense debate over the last few years. Responsible for this debate in no small measure are the numerous health care antitrust cases that have reached and been decided by the United States Supreme Court. In the final weeks of the October 1981 term, the Court decided three such cases which should be of great interest to health care professionals. Although each involves a different point of law, collectively the decisions underscore the increasing amount of litigation that challenges joint conduct by health care providers, and the increasingly rigorous scrutiny that courts are giving such conduct under the antitrust laws.The case that has received the most recent attention is Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society,’ which involved an alleged price-fixing agreement among physicians. Defendants were the county medical societies in Maricopa and Pima Counties in Arizona, and the foundations for medical care which each society had created.