The Justice Department is asking a Texas federal court to dismiss its case against SCA Health that alleged the company agreed with competitors not to poach senior-level employees.
In January 2021, a federal grand jury charged SCA and its related entities, which own and operate outpatient medical care centers, with entering and engaging in conspiracies with other healthcare companies to suppress competition between them for the services of senior-level employees. SCA is part of UnitedHealth Group's Optum division.
The Justice Department in a Nov. 13 court filing requested that the pending charges be dismissed against the defendants. It said in the filing that dismissal is "not contrary to manifest public interest."
The 2021 indictment alleged that from May 2010 to October 2017, SCA conspired with a Texas company to allocate senior-level executives by agreeing to not solicit each other's executives, violating the Sherman Act. Separately, the indictment accuses SCA of conspiring with a Colorado company on a similar non-solicitation agreement from February 2012 to July 2017.
SCA filed a motion in March 2021 seeking to dismiss the case, according to court records.
Messages seeking comment from SCA and the Justice Department were not immediately returned.