Law360 (April 17, 2019, 9:37 PM EDT) — Western Pennsylvania’s top hospital group can’t try to sever exclusive 
licenses between Blue Cross Blue Shield and regional health plans as part of a larger antitrust brawl over the insurance giant’s dominance of geographic areas, an Alabama federal judge ruled Tuesday.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center — which has fought a seven-year battle with Pennsylvania nonprofit insurer Highmark over contracts with UPMC providers — has sought to intervene in multidistrict litigation involving claims that Blue Cross has flexed its powerhouse status to divvy up regional health markets.
But U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor said the hospital system’s bid to get involved in one of the suits against Blue Cross was untimely because of the complex legal fight playing out in Pennsylvania, where state Attorney General Josh Shapiro has filed court papers to ensure patients are still covered at several UPMC providers tangled in the dispute.