Sutter Health’s $575 Million Antitrust Settlement Approved

Sutter Health, a nonprofit hospital operator in California, received final approval to pay a $575 million antitrust settlement to a health benefit trust and certain employers for allegedly using its market powers to force illegal insurance contract and payment terms.

The settlement with the United Food and Commercial Workers & Employers Benefit Trust (UBET), announced in late 2019 and approved Friday by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo after the parties’ tussle over attorney fees, includes injunctions to last for at least 10 years.

Sutter Health would be required to produce cost and quality transparency. The company also ...