International Healthcare Management v. Hawaii Coalition for Health

International Healthcare Management (IHM), a company that develops healthcare programs, and Health Hawaii Network (HHN), which was established to provide a network of doctors in Hawaii for a managed care health plan developed by IHM, appeal from summary judgment in favor of the Hawaii Medical Association (HMA), the Hawaii Coalition for Health (“the Coalition”), Queen’s Physician Group (QPG), and certain of their officers who were also named as defendants. 1 IHM and HHN alleged a conspiracy to fix prices and to boycott their plan in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 , and Hawaii law. The district court found no evidence to support either theory, and no evidence of QPG’s involvement in the alleged conspiracy. It concluded that, in the absence of any agreement or threat to boycott HHN, or attempt to fix prices, the joint efforts of HMA and the Coalition to negotiate the terms of HHN’s provider *602 agreement caused no antitrust injury under state or federal law. We agree, and affirm.

I

In 1997, IHM (and others not involved in this litigation) created the St. Francis Preferred Provider Organization managed care health plan (“St. Francis Plan”) that it…