A federal grand jury in Denver returned a two-count indictment charging DaVita Inc. and its former CEO, Kent Thiry, for conspiring with competing employers not to solicit certain employees. DaVita owns and operates outpatient medical care centers across the country, focusing on dialysis and kidney care. These charges are the result of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into employee allocation agreements in the healthcare industry. DaVita’s co-conspirator Surgical Care Affiliates LLC and its related entity (collectively SCA) were charged in January, and that case is pending in the Northern District of Texas.
The indictment alleges that DaVita and Thiry both participated in two separate conspiracies to suppress competition for the services of certain employees. Count One charges DaVita and Thiry for conspiring with SCA 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. Count Two charges DaVita and Thiry for conspiring with another healthcare company from as early as April 2017 until as late as June 2019 to allocate employees by agreeing that the other healthcare company would not solicit DaVita’s employees.
