UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health et al.
In December 2019, the California Attorney General (CA-AGO) reached a settlement agreement with Sutter Health, the largest hospital system in Northern California. The CA-AGO retained Bates White in 2018 to support an outside expert. The lawsuit, first filed by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and Employers Benefit Trust and class action plaintiffs, and later joined by the CA-AGO, alleged that anticompetitive practices by Sutter had led to higher healthcare costs for patients in Northern California compared to other places in the state. The expert submitted one report comparing the quality of healthcare at Sutter hospitals to other hospitals in California and the rest of the United States and a second report examining Sutter’s claims of being an efficient healthcare provider. Sutter Health is expected to pay $575 million in compensation and agree to significant conduct remedies.
Further details of the settlement are available here.