Optometrists are the plaintiffs in this case and have been attempting to “persuade Intermountain Health Care Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, to let them participate along with ophthalmologists on its panel of eye care providers, just as its competitors have.” The optometrists claim they can save Intermountain more than $400,000 per year by adding them to its provider network.
Chief Circuit Judge Deanell Reece Tacha wrote in an opinion for the court:
The Utah ophthalmologists went to great lengths to keep optometrists out of the Intermountain Health provider network. But the ophthalmologists did not threaten a mass resignation, and simply lobbying Intermountain Health as a group did not amount to forming anything that federal case law would treat as a conspiracy.
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