Kaitlyn Downs is an Associate in Holland & Knight's Orlando office

In SCPH Legacy Corp. v. Palmetto Health, 724 F. App'x 275, 276 (4th Cir. 2018), the court of appeals affirmed a motion to dismiss filed by Palmetto Health (Palmetto). Providence Hospital (Providence) alleged that Palmetto conspired to eliminate competition by hiring Providence's orthopedic surgeons secretly and "en masse." As a result, Providence suffered a $50 million loss in value (as calculated by the reduction in price that another company was willing to pay to acquire Providence). The court found that Providence failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted. The court explained that no matter what entity bought the orthopedic practice, Providence would have suffered the same loss. Although Palmetto's hiring of the surgeons decreased competition and adversely affected Providence, the acquisition did not necessarily result in anticompetitive effects. Furthermore, the court ruled that Providence did not have standing to sue under the antitrust laws because it was not directly injured; instead, patients and patient employers would bear any resulting harm since these individuals would be the ones directly responsible for paying higher prices as a result of the damage to competition.

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