June 21, 20229:42 PM UTCLast Updated ago
U.S. Supreme Court rules against DaVita over dialysis coverage
By Nate Raymond
June 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected dialysis provider DaVita Inc's (DVA.N) claims that an Ohio hospital's employee health plan discriminates against patients with end-stage kidney disease by reimbursing them at low rates in hopes they would switch to Medicare.
In a 7-2 decision authored by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court ruled that Marietta Memorial Hospital's employee health plan did not violate federal law by limiting benefits for outpatient dialysis because it did so without regard to whether patients had end-stage renal disease. A lower court had ruled in favor of Denver-based DaVita.
DaVita, which provides kidney dialysis services through a network of outpatient clinics, sued in 2018 arguing that the hospital's plan violated the Medicare Secondary Payer statute, under which the government healthcare program for those ages 65 and older pays only after a patient's existing insurance plan does...