Jul. 8—Seven Connecticut residents, including a Manchester minister, have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the parent company of Hartford Hospital, claiming it has parlayed its purchase of hospitals with near-monopolies in three small Connecticut cities into market power in the bigger, more competitive markets of the Hartford and Bridgeport areas.

The lawsuit, filed in February in Hartford Superior Court, alleges that Hartford HealthCare Corp. owns three hospitals "that commercial health plans must include in their networks in order for their insurance products to be commercially viable."

It identifies the "must-have" hospitals as Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, Windham Community Memorial Hospital in Willimantic, and the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. Each of those hospitals has 79% or more of the inpatient admissions in its local market, the lawsuit says.

"HHC leverages its monopoly power over those facilities to force insurers, employers, and patients to pay unreasonably high prices for care — not only at those facilities but also at other facilities, like Hartford Hospital, that operate in more competitive markets," the suit alleges.

"HHC does this by negotiating with commercial health plans on an 'all-or-nothing' basis, telling insurers that if they want HHC's 'must-have' hospitals in their insurance networks (which HHC knows they need), the insurers must also include in their networks other HHC facilities and services at substantially inflated prices," it continues.

As a result of this and other anti-competitive conduct by Hartford HealthCare, the suit alleges, "Connecticut patients and employers are overcharged tens of millions of dollars every month by HHC. These overcharges come in the form of premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and copays that are substantially higher than they would be absent HHC's anti-competitive conduct."

"Overall prices at Hartford HealthCare's facilities are routinely over 20% higher than their nearest competitor, and the prices for many high-volume procedures — from colonoscopies to blood transfusions — are often hundreds of dollars more than nearby hospitals with better quality ratings," Fairmark Partners, a Washington law firm representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

An inpatient stay "costs about $4,000 more at Hartford Hospital than it does at a hospital two miles away," the statement adds, clearly referring to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center.

Quality no better — often worse

"At the same time, HHC's quality of care is no better — and, in many instances, it is worse — than that of nearby competitors," the complaint alleges.

Although Hartford HealthCare is a nonprofit organization, the suit alleges that it pays its executives "staggering sums," including more than $4 million to its CEO in the most recent full year of reporting, and more than $1 million to at least six other executives.

The lawsuit seeks to become a class action, representing the interests of everyone in affected areas of Connecticut who pays some part of their health-insurance premiums or makes direct payments to Hartford HealthCare through copays and similar mechanisms.

But, like all class actions, it had to start with individual plaintiffs. An amended version of the complaint, filed in April, names seven plaintiffs from different parts of the state, including the Rev. Joshua Pawelek of Glastonbury, who is parish minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society: East in Manchester.

The antitrust suit was the second filed against Hartford HealthCare in as many months. St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center Inc., which is Hartford Hospital's biggest competitor, filed the first suit in January in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Both lawsuits are lengthy and have already been amended. The amended complaint in the suit by the seven individual plaintiffs is 66 pages long, while St. Francis' amended complaint is 79 pages.

Both allege a range of anti-competitive conduct by Hartford HealthCare, with the St. Francis suit emphasizing Hartford HealthCare's acquisition of physicians' practices.

St. Francis alleges that Hartford HealthCare demands that the acquired practices and others refer virtually all their cases to Hartford HealthCare, regardless of what is best for patients. It charges that Hartford HealthCare threatens and intimidates doctors who don't follow its "dictates."

'Without merit'

Asked to respond to the two suits, Hartford HealthCare said in a statement, "These complaints are without merit. Both complaints misrepresent the many ways Hartford HealthCare is working to transform health care — building a system of care that is more accessible, has lower-cost options, is a champion for equity, and both attracts and delivers excellence. We will defend ourselves against these lawsuits in court.

"Hartford HealthCare is transforming a fragmented model of care that is too often inefficient and inequitable," the statement continues. "We are doing this by innovating and investing in expertise, expanding access and creating jobs — all for the purpose of delivering world-class care in the most affordable and convenient locations.

"Now, as always, we remain focused on serving the needs of our patients and our communities," the statement adds.

The St. Francis lawsuit alleges that Hartford HealthCare executives have made no bones about their anti-competitive intentions, saying in meetings that their plan was to "crush" or "bury" St. Francis. It quotes one executive as saying, "We don't want St. Francis in our backyard."

The suit by the individual plaintiffs alleges that Hartford HealthCare interferes in health-insurance markets through contract terms designed to prevent health plans from "steering" their members to lower-cost, higher-quality providers.

Attempts to arrange an interview with Pawelek, the Manchester minister who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, were unsuccessful.

But a recent CT Mirror story quoted Pawelek as saying that his Unitarian congregation has been forced to delay hiring a part-time membership coordinator due to rising health-insurance premiums. He said a coordinator would help the congregation increase its funding base.

The story said the congregation provides health insurance to three of its six employees. It says annual premiums increases have often reached double-digit percentages, forcing the church to change carriers and increase deductibles several times in recent years — and, in turn, creating confusion and higher costs for employees.

For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.