Dallas, Texas...

The U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, on February 20, 1997, dismissed, by way of summary judgement, a Federal antitrust lawsuit which had been brought by Delaware Health Care, Inc., a home health care and infusion therapy provider, against the Medical Center of Delaware and several of its affiliated corporations. By dissmissing the antitrust lawsuit, Senior Judge Murray M. Schwartz soundly rejected Delaware Health Care's "monopoly leveraging" and "essential facilities" claims against the Medical Center of Delaware, that state's largest hospital system.

The Medical Center of Delaware and its affiliated corporations were successfully defended by Brian M. Peters, Kathleen M. Chancler, Jonathan B. Sprague, Mark L. Mattioli and Katherine Layman of the Philadelphia-based law firm of Post & Schell, P.C. Kevin O'Donnell, President of Healthcare Resources of America and a nationally recognized expert on home care and alternate site care, was retained by Post & Schell as an industry expert and consultant on the case. Mr. O'Donnell explained that "many of the principles upon which traditional antitrust suits are based are simply outdated, and they do not fit the rapidly evolving roles of health care providers in a managed care market environment. Ambulatory care markets are not only difficult to quantify since they are truly emergent in nature, but they are even more difficult to define geographically as health care delivery becomes more mobile. The vertical integration of multi-hospital systems presents a new dimension to antitrust issues and the courts will be even further challenged as these new markets for health care delivery continue to expand."

Selected Published Articles by Kevin P. O'Donnell:

• "Making Outsourcing a Win-Win" (Infusion-April 1997)
  
• "Outsourcing-Doing What You Do Best and Buying the Rest" (The Remington Report-March/April 1997)
  
• "Why Subacute Companies are Hedging Their Bets with Home Care" (The Remington Report-January/February 1997)
  
• "A Proper Perspective? Sometimes You're the Windshield; Sometimes You're the Bug" (The Remington Report-November/December 1996)
  
• "Do Hospital Have the Right to Compete for Home Care Patients?" (The Remington Report-July/August 1996)
  
• "What Should Hospital CEO's be Doing About Home Care?" (The Remington Report-March/April 1996)
  
• "Hospitals Acquiring Local Businesses: The Art and Challenge of Buying Beyond the Four Walls" (Journal of Health Care Finance-1996)
  
• "Taking Aim: How Providers Can Target Hospital DRGs" (Infusion-September 1995)
  
• "Home Care's Surging Value to Hospitals: The Make or Buy Scenario" (The Remington Report-April/May 1995)
  
• "Integrating for Survival" (Homecare-November 1994)
  
• "Home Health Care: The Pivotal Link in the Creation of a New Health Care Delivery System" (Journal of Health Care Finance-1994)
  
• "Hospitals Without Walls: The Packaging of High Tech Home Care" (The Remington Report-April/May 1994)
  
• "Using Business Intelligence to Deliver Smarter Home Care" (The Remington Report-February/March 1994)
  
• "The Small Will Survive" (Homecare-November 1993)
  
• "The Home Infusion Marketplace: Going under the knife of managed care and other prevailing trends" (The Remington Report-October/November 1993)
  
• "Home Care Shaping up as Competative Necessity" (Modern Healthcare-June 1993)
  
• "How to Choose a Consultant" (Homecare-May 1993)
  
• "Back To Basics: Taking the First Steps to a Successful Intravenous Therapy Business" (The Consultant Pharmacist-Februaury 1993)
  

Mr. O'Donnell can be contacted at: