The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Charleston Area Medical Center Inc. (CAMC), alleging that the West Virginia hospital restrained competition in cardiac surgery services. According to an article in the Nashville City Paper, CAMC entered into an agreement with the Justice Department to terminate its four-year agreement with HCA Inc. that prevented HCA from developing a cardiac surgery program in Raleigh County, WV. The lawsuit states that CAMC promised to support two unrelated HCA programs in other parts of West Virginia in exchange for HCA’s cooperation in not establishing a competing cardiac surgery program. Without admitting guilt, CAMC, which has the country’s sixth largest cardiac surgery program, also agreed not to enter into other anticompetitive agreements. HCA was not named as a defendant in the suit.
