Antitrust Accusations Levied at Leading Hospital Bed Maker

Hill-Rom--the dominant player in the U.S. hospital bed market--is facing a federal lawsuit in western Texas that alleges that the company has used its position to squeeze out competitors in the hospital rental market.The company filing the suit, Bloomington, MN-based Universal Hospital Services (UHS), claims that it is seeking relief from Hill-Rom's practices. Calling Hill-Rom "a serial monopolist and violator of the antitrust laws" in its suit, UHS accuses Hill-Rom of trying to secure its market dominance by in hospital-bed rental markets by offering bundled deals that "nobody else" could match. The complaint also says Hill-Rom has a history of engaging in "exclusive dealing and bundled discounts" in the rental markets for patient handling equipment (PHE) and moveable medical equipment (MME). The complaint filed states that "Hill-Rom has built, extended, and maintained its monopoly power through a long history of anti-competitive actions, including illegal monopolization and exclusionary bundling practices."

"Hill-Rom has started leveraging its market power in the Standard Hospital Bed market by negotiating sole-source agreements with national group purchasing organizations and hospital networks that contain steep discounts and rebates on the sale of Standard Hospital Beds bundled with ironclad commitments to use Hill-Rom for their PHE and MME Rental needs," UHS' lawyers write in the complaint. UHS also says they want to prevent Hill-Rom "from tortiously interfering with its asset management service programs."Hill-Rom officials could not be immediately reached for comment.According to Universal Hospital Services' telling of the story, Hill-Rom has been returning to old habits that got it in legal trouble in the past. UHS' lawsuit filing recounts how Hill-Rom and its predecessor Hillenbrand paid more than half a billion dollars in the past decade to settle two lawsuits accusing it of similar practices.An voluntary injunction from one settlement expired in 2009 "just as Hill-Rom was bringing in new management and growth in the hospital equipment market began to slow," according to the lawsuit filing."As a result, Hill-Rom was confronted with a choice: compete on the merits of its PHE and MME products as a 'new' Hill-Rom or return to its old anti-competitive practices with the ends being used to justify the means. Ultimately, Hill-Rom chose recidivism."

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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