Matthew Kumar, M.D., a veteran Mayo Clinic physician, has filed multiple antitrust complaints against Mayo since 2015 over what he calls its moves to create a local healthcare monopoly. The complaints revolve around  changes at the system’s hospital in Albert Lea, Minn., say documents obtained by the Post Bulletin, a newspaper based in Mayo’s headquarters town of Rochester, Minn.

The Mayo Clinic announced earlier this year that it would transfer inpatient services from its Albert Lea hospital to its Austin, Minn., campus.

“I predicted the current situation that the citizens of Austin and Albert Lea find themselves—reduction or elimination of services, rise in cost of healthcare, loss of choice in treatment options and being forced to seek healthcare far away from home,”  Dr. Kumar wrote, the Post Bulletin reported.

Dr. Kumar recently informed Freeborn County District Attorney David Walker about the lawsuits. Mr. Walker, in turn, forwarded the documents to the state’s attorney general and Rep. Tim Walz (D.-Minn.) In the documents, Dr. Kumar noted that monopolies can increase healthcare costs and limit patient choice.

The Mayo Clinic has asserted that its Albert Lea changes don’t violate antitrust laws.

To read the Post Bulletin report, please hit this link.

To read a FierceHealthcare report on this controversy, please hit this link.