Department Of Justice Sues OhioHealth Alleging Anticompetitive Network Contracting Requirements

On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against OhioHealth, which owns or manages 16 hospitals and outpatient facilities in Ohio. The DOJ alleges that OhioHealth requires insurers seeking to include one of its facilities in a network to include all OhioHealth facilities across their commercial insurance networks.

According to the DOJ announcement, “OhioHealth generally forces insurers to include OhioHealth in all of the networks for the commercial insurance products they offer, regardless of how OhioHealth’s prices compare to its competitors, preventing the development of budget-conscious plans in the Columbus area . . .