by
John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | January 07, 2022
It adds that Hillrom has “extinguish(ed) any meaningful challenge to its dominance” and “the severe consequences of that market reality are now reverberating throughout our public health system.” As a result, healthcare costs are at risk of rising and innovation may be halted, with healthcare providers facing a limited supply of hospital beds during a pandemic.
Hillrom and its parent companies have settled a number of antitrust suits against it in the past. In 2006, the company settled with Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System for $337.5 million and agreed to a voluntary injunction that prevented it from using its monopoly power for the sale of standard hospital beds in the renting of certain patient handling equipment for three years. The agreement forced Hill-Rom to unbundle and separately price and discount each product.
In 2015, Universal Hospital Services brought an antitrust suit against the company for engaging in a pattern of “exclusionary and predatory conduct” in order to “foreclose [market] competition" in the medical equipment rental industry. It claimed that Hill-Rom tried to use its position in the standard hospital bed market to negotiate sole-source, "ironclad" agreements with national GPOs and hospital networks that bunded together the use of its equipment for rentals in exchange for steep discounts and rebates.
Linet is seeking damages and an order finding Hillrom violated antitrust law, specifically the Sherman Act, which prohibits monopolization and contracts that restrain trade. It also is asking for an order to bar Hillrom from entering or enforcing corporate enterprise agreements; another that would require Hillrom to give up profits made from "illegal” conduct; and for Hillrom to stop preventing other beds from connecting to all features of its nurse call system, as long as the other beds can do so securely.
Hillrom and Baxter did not respond to Modern Healthcare’s requests for comment.
An attorney for Linet, Julie Porter, declined to comment on the lawsuit to the Chicago Tribune.
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