A battle over cardiac care in the mid-Willamette Valley is heating up, with Salem Health asking a judge to throw out an independent cardiology clinic’s $15 million lawsuit accusing the health system of illegally attempting to monopolize the market.
In September, the Oregon Heart Center sued, claiming Salem Health defamed the clinic and steered patients away from it to consolidate its hold on the market after a business deal soured.
Salem Health operates Salem Hospital and several clinics. The clinic’s allegations of anticompetitive behavior and antitrust violations come amid heightened concerns over growing consolidation. Filings in the case offer a glimpse into how providers are trying to gain an edge over one another in cardiology — a highly profitable area of medicine.
In their reply, attorneys for Salem Health accused the Oregon Heart Center of trying to “weaponize” antitrust laws to address its “frustration over the possible loss of patients and associated profits due to increased competition, saying the suit is “to the detriment of patients.”
The Salem Health lawyers argued that it’s important to dismiss the case early, citing an appeals court’s finding that giant requests for documents in antitrust cases create an “opportunity to extort large settlements”— even when there’s not “much of a case.”
“Salem Health is well within its right to not deal with OHC, not to deal on terms and conditions that OHC demands, and not to promote OHC’s services."
The legal fight has its origins in a failed partnership between Salem Health and the clinic. Four years ago, Salem Health pulled out of negotiations with the clinic for a joint ambulatory center, saying the terms would jeopardize the large non-profit’s tax-exempt status.
Following the collapse of the deal, the clinic claimed, Salem Health launched a campaign of “exclusion and intimidation” that included spreading false information about the clinic to the health care community, including a claim that the clinic caused a Salem Health Provider to take his own life.
The Oregon Health Center later set up an ambulatory surgical center in 2022 with Cascade Cardiology, and Salem Health responded by trying to steer business away from it, the suit claims.
Salem Health says it’s just competing
“Salem Health is well within its right to not deal with OHC, not to deal on terms and conditions that OHC demands, and not to promote OHC’s services,” attorneys for Salem Health wrote in a filing.
They also accused Oregon Heart Center of steering business away from Salem Health, sending patients who needed additional care to hospitals in Portland.
The Salem Health lawyers also contended that when it comes to the technical legal analysis required to prove antitrust violations, the local cardiology services market “is both too narrow geographically and too vague to establish what services are at issue, who provides them, and who utilizes them.” They said there are approximately 85 cardiology physicians or physician assistants with active licenses within 50 miles of Salem alone.
The judicial officer handling the case, James C. Edmonds, has scheduled a Dec. 12 status check to discuss the motions.