Sutter will pay up -- at least something

For as long as I've been blogging here, I've been writing about how Sutter Health/California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) has screwed the Mission community. First Sutter ingested and shrank St. Luke's Hospital. Its unions fought back, but the corporate colossus rolled on.

IN 2014, unions did what unions do (and which they are the only force that has the cash to do) and sued Sutter for antitrust violations. Sutter has settled:

Sutter Health, one of California’s largest health care and hospital chains, will pay $575 million to settle a suit alleging it violated California’s antitrust law.

The United Food & Commercial Workers sued Sutter in 2014. The California Department of Justice joined the case in 2018. Sutter agreed to the settlement last week.

While admitting no wrongdoing, Sutter agreed to be monitored for the next 10 years.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the settlement:

“I don’t think anyone gives up $575 million freely, or agrees to change behavior in future business practices freely.”

Health care prices are 70% higher in Northern California, where Sutter is dominant, than in Southern California, Becerra said. Sutter overcharged by 15.5%, the settlement document says.

Sutter operates 24 hospitals in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Northern California, plus 35 outpatient centers. More than 12,000 physicians are in its network.

Healthcare consumers won't get the cash directly, but we can hope this is more than a token slap on the wrist for the greedy behemoth.
...Your blogger has been completely felled by a raging head cold. I hope to be back in regular form when the fog clears.