HCA Healthcare Loses Bid to Exit North Carolina Antitrust Suit

HCA Healthcare Inc. lost its attempt to toss an antitrust case accusing the hospital chain of abusing its power in order to inflate health-care costs in North Carolina.

Judge Martin Reidinger of the US District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Wednesday denied HCA’s motion to dismiss the suit, saying the cities and counties in the case sufficiently alleged HCA has monopoly power over North Carolina’s outpatient market.

“The court accepts the truth of factual allegations in the consolidated complaint, and the court will assume that the plaintiffs can prove the facts that they allege in their ...