Attorney general: Doctors negotiating for pay broke law

Four doctors who tried to withhold emergency room services at Madison Memorial Hospital were using anti-competitive tactics to bring about change in the marketplace, said Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden on Monday.

Wasden investigated allegations the four doctors violated the Idaho Competition Act during negotiations over on-call pay between the doctors and hospital administrators. The act prohibits “conspiracies between two or more persons in the unreasonable constraint of commerce.”

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division investigated doctors Robert Coray, Brian Christensen, Jay McMaster and Barry Peterson.

Wasden said the four agreed to a settlement that bars the physicians from making agreements with other doctors in any future payrate negotiations with the hospital. They will be required to certify their compliance with the attorney general over each of the next five years.

The doctors tried to negotiate their pay for their on-call time in September 2013. They notified hospital administrators in January 2014 that they would stop providing on-call coverage until the hospital agreed to their terms.

Wasden said that action violated state antitrust laws.

He said the investigation did not consider the merits of paying physicians for on-call services.