The State of Washington filed an antitrust and consumer protection lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court against the state’s two largest for-profit dialysis providers, DaVita Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc.
Washington faces a structural scarcity of licensed kidney specialists, particularly outside the Seattle and Tacoma urban cores, as fellowship graduations have failed to keep pace with chronic kidney disease prevalence.
Because missing or delaying a session causes dangerous fluid accumulation and electrolyte imbalance, patients must accept whatever scheduling, chair availability, and nursing ratios the sole regional operator provides.
While traditional hemodialysis requires traveling to a commercial clinic to be connected to stationary machinery, peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis permit patients to undergo filtration while sleeping or during flexible home hours.
Healthcare defense attorneys contend that medical director agreements represent collaborative partnerships between dialysis providers and independent physician practices rather than standard employer-worker covenants.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed an antitrust lawsuit in Thurston County against DaVita and Fresenius, alleging illegal noncompete covenants on medical directors that restrict dialysis competition and patient care.