Consultants warned over ‘price-fixing’

CONSULTANTS have been warned that they risk breaking the law on price-fixing if they try to negotiate collectively on fees for treating private patients.

In an advisory issued yesterday, the Competition Authority said the traditional negotiations the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) undertook with private health insurers such as VHI on behalf of their members could not resume.

The IHCA and IMO had already agreed in September 2005 to suspend negotiations while the Competition Authority completed a process of public consultation on the issue.