FTC investigating Nevada ob-gyns for price collusion

The commission also continues to scrutinize how physicians use the third-party messenger model.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Sept. 9, 2002.

Obstetrician-gynecologists in Clark County, Nev., struggling to pay medical liability insurance bills, now have been hit with a Federal Trade Commission investigation.

In July, the FTC sent a letter to the president of the Clark County OB-GYN Society telling him that the 100-member group was under investigation to see if it violated antitrust laws by collectively negotiating health insurance contract prices or by collectively refusing to deal with plans.

This has been an active year for the FTC in regard to physicians. Besides the Nevada investigation, it has announced four settlements with physicians so far in 2002. Those cases revolved around the "third-party messenger model," in which independent doctors can designate a messenger to negotiate a contract with a health plan if certain guidelines are followed.

In the Clark County case, the FTC said its letter and the nonpublic investigation "should not be viewed as an accusation by the Federal Trade Commission or its staff of any wrongdoing." The FTC goes on to ask for a long list of information, including the society's written and recorded materials such as letters, minutes, pamphlets and telephone conversations.

"To me, the experience is like you are drowning in quicksand and the federal government comes along and throws you a brick," said Las Vegas ob-gyn John Nowins, MD, the society's president.

The probe comes at a time when obstetricians are retiring early because they can't afford their medical liability insurance, leaving Las Vegas entirely or cutting back deliveries so they can keep their insurance. [...]