The FTC accuses the respondents, Southeastern New Mexico Physicians IPA, Inc. (SENMP), Barbara Gomez, and Lonnie Ray, of violating Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act by engaging in “unfair methods of competition.” Specifically, the respondents are accused of conspiring to raise prices for physician services through a series of price-fixing agreements. The Commission says SENMP, through Gomez and Ray, jointly contracted on behalf of 68 physicians with third-party payers in the Roswell area. The Commission determined that these jointly negotiated contracts resulted in higher fees for SENMP physicians than they would otherwise have obtained by negotiating with the payers individually. From this, the Commission concluded that the physicians conspired to subvert the “competitive” market by working together in their mutual self-interest. Accordingly, the Commission forced SENMP to sign a “consent order” dissolving existing contracts with payers and forbidding all respondents from jointly negotiating with payers in the future, except under severe restrictions imposed by the Commission.

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