Antitrust and peer review

An antitrust action against a physician is unlikely if the following guidelines are followed: Do not agree with competing independent doctors on any terms of price, quantity, or quality, or the patients one is willing to serve, the location from which one is permitted to draw patients, or where one will locate offices. Also, do not agree to refuse to offer services to alternate delivery systems. Generally, those who serve on peer review committees are protected if decisions are reached after effort has been made to obtain the facts of the case, after adequate notice and fair hearing procedures are afforded to the physician involved, and when the action has been warranted by the facts and is in the furtherance of health care. An attorney who specializes in antitrust should be engaged. Members of peer review committees should not be in a position to benefit from the decision. They should document all transgressions of the accused, treat the accused fairly, and give him or her the opportunity to have due process.