Atrium Health Secures Antitrust Win in Anti-Steering Case Appeal

Atrium Health, a multistate public hospital system based in North Carolina, counts as a “local government” unit with immunity against antitrust claims over its alleged practice of prohibiting insurers from “steering” patients toward inexpensive health care, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected a proposed class action by a Blue Cross Blue Shield patient who accused the health chain of leveraging its market dominance to force the anti-steering language into its contracts with insurers.

The court dismissed the argument that the hospital authority can’t qualify as a government unit because it ...