Djeneba Sidibe v. Sutter Health

MEMORANDUM

Djeneba Sidibe and other health plan members appeal the dismissal of their third amended antitrust class action complaint under §§ 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act against Sutter Health, an owner and operator of hospitals and other healthcare service providers in Northern California. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we review de novo. See In re Musical Instruments & Equip. Antitrust Litig., 798 F.3d 1186, 1191 (9th Cir. 2015). We reverse the district court’s judgment and remand for further proceedings.

Sutter sells inpatient hospital services to commercial health insurance plans. Plaintiffs allege that Sutter forced illegal tying arrangements and anti-steering clauses upon the health plans, causing plaintiffs to pay higher health insurance premiums and other healthcare charges. They allege that the relevant geographic markets for the sale of inpatient hospital services are hospital service areas, or “HSAs,” as defined in the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Each HSA is a collection of specifically-defined zip codes whose residents receive most of their hospitalizations in that local area. Within the tying HSAs, plaintiffs allege that there are no economic…