Sutter Antitrust Class Action Could Upend Industry Consolidation

Health-care consolidation and antitrust allegations are the focus of litigation that alleges Sutter Health Systems uses its Northern California dominance to force higher fees out of employer-funded health plans and consumers.

Jury selection begins Sept. 23 in San Francisco in a case that could translate into more than a billion-dollar liability for California’s third-largest hospital system. Sutter denies the allegations.

Employers, payors, and the health-care industry are closely watching the case. Success in California could spill into other states and undermine consolidation efforts by other health-care providers, observers said.

“If I’m a system somewhere else and these guys lose, these ...