Hayden E. Klein

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Dialysis and kidney care company DaVita and its former CEO Kent Thiry face a two-count indictment for conspiring with competitors not to solicit each other’s senior employees, the U.S. Department of Justice 

DaVita and Thiry are charged with two counts of violating the Sherman Act, which outlaws "every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade," and any "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize,” according to the 

. If convicted, DaVita faces a maximum penalty of a $100 million fine per count, and Thiry faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine per count.

Count One charges both parties for conspiring with Surgical Care Affiliates LLC and its related entity “to allocate senior-level employees by agreeing not to solicit each other’s senior-level employees from as early as February 2012 until as late as July 2017,” according to a statement.

Similarly, Count Two charges DaVita and Thiry for agreeing with another healthcare company to not solicit DaVita’s employees from as early as April 2017 until as late as June 2019.

“These charges show a disturbing pattern of behavior among health care company executives to conspire to limit the opportunities of workers,” said Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office in the news release. “The FBI is dedicated to working with our partners to hold those accountable who would engage in labor market collusion to the detriment of their employees.”

The defendants are scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on July 20. DaVita is based in Denver.

The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by victims if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum.

Karen Crummy, a spokeswoman for Thiry, issued a statement refuting the charges.

“These allegations are false and rely on a radical legal theory about senior executive recruitment without precedent in U.S. history. The government took steps to ignore – and even hide – key evidence. The facts bear it out decisively: No antitrust violations occurred, these companies hired DaVita executives for years, and the companies are not competitors.”

DaVita is one of two large dialysis providers that together account for more than 70% of the US market.

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This indictment is a result of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation of employee allocation agreements within the health care industry.










DaVita, Former CEO Indicted, Charged With Collusion Over Top Employees

Hospitalizations for eating disorders among adolescents increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to 

In the first 12 months of the pandemic, the number of hospitalizations among patients ages 10-23 with eating disorders more than doubled at Michigan Medicine. The center admitted 125 patients with eating disorders in that time, compared to an average of 56 per year between 2017 and 2019.

The pandemic may have triggered or worsened symptoms in teens with eating disorders and those who were at risk for eating disorders, according to the authors.

“These findings emphasize how profoundly the pandemic has affected young people, who experienced school closures, cancelled extracurricular activities, and social isolation. Their entire worlds were turned upside down overnight,” said lead author Alana Otto, M.D., M.P.H., an adolescent medicine physician at University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

The study also suggests that admission rate at Michigan Medicine increased steadily in those 12 months, with the highest rates being between nine and 12 months after the pandemic began. Rates have continued to climb after March 2021. This may be due to delayed care and in-person visits for conditions unrelated to COVID-19, the study said.

This research only reflects a small portion of people with eating disorders during the pandemic, however other studies have found similar trends. “Although our findings reflect the experience of a single institution, they’re in line with emerging reports of the pandemic’s potential to have profound negative effects on the mental and physical health of adolescents across the globe,” Otto wrote.

Other institutions are reporting the pandemic’s profound effects on mental health among teens. Experts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

 on the pandemic’s double whammy on well-being: the disruption of peer-to-peer interactions, and the severing of ties to teaches and coaches who form a “safety net” and are trained to intervene if they see a teenager showing signs of distress.

Otto also mentioned that medical attention is not the end of treatment for adolescents with eating disorders, but the beginning. “Access to care was already limited before the pandemic and now we’re seeing an increased demand for these services. As we see a wave of young people coming to the hospital for urgent medical concerns related to eating disorders, we need to be prepared to continue to care for them after they leave the hospital.”

One study author noted that access to mental health care was already limited before the pandemic, and now demand is increasing.

Hayden E. Klein

Articles

DaVita, Former CEO Indicted, Charged With Collusion Over Top Employees

Hospitals See Spike in Adolescent Eating Disorders During Pandemic