Hospital to pay $52M to former radiology group partner

For the second time, Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center will have to pay a Boise, Idaho-based radiology group a multimillion-dollar award, reports BusinessWeek.

Last week, a jury ordered the hospital to pay $52 million for violating its partnership agreement with MRI Associates by giving business to a competing company.

The lawsuit first went to trial in 2007 and ended in a $63 million verdict. A judge reduced the award to $36 million, and in 2009 the Idaho Supreme Court sent the case back for a new trial, which ended last Tuesday.

MRI Associates first partnered with St. Alphonsus in 1985, and the partnership was scheduled to last until 2015. However, in 1998, radiologists at the hospital started their own imaging practice. By 2004, Saint Alphonsus had abandoned the MRI Associates partnership for the newer company, notes BusinessWeek.

The hospital says it plans to appeal the verdict.

For more information:
- read the BusinessWeek article