COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Community Health Center of Branch County has entered into a consent agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office that settles an antitrust complaint filed against CHC, the Hillsdale Community Health Center, Allegiance Health in Jackson, and ProMedica Health System’s hospitals in Adrian and Tecumseh. The antitrust complaint claimed that officials from the five hospitals agreed to unlawfully draw up territories for marketing purposes and to not market competing healthcare services outside of their own territories.
In a news release issued Friday, CHC disputed the allegations made in the complaint, but ultimately agreed to the settlement because “it simply could no longer afford the very large expense and significant distraction of further defending this investigation.”
Under terms of the agreement, the five hospitals cannot agree with other healthcare providers to limit or prohibit marketing or to allocate geographic territories for marketing purposes for the next five years.
