This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Ps are allergists who practice through the Allergy & Asthma Center, P.C., a professional corporation. D is an organization of physicians and osteopaths who provide medical care to subscribers of Genesee Health Care, Inc., doing business as Health Plus of Michigan (Health Plus), a state-licensed, federally-qualified health maintenance organization (HMO). D is owned by the physicians who comprise the group. Health Plus, the HMO insurance contractor here, is funded by subscribers who pay a fixed premium per month. With this money, Health Plus pays service providers, such as D, on a computed basis and also a fixed amount per member per month. D members are paid primarily on a fee-for-service basis, which D determines according to a set maximum fee schedule. Health Plus will pay D physicians no more than what the fee schedule provides. D exists only to serve Health Plus patients. Health Plus' market share is 20 percent of the population in the area of Genesee - Lapeer - Shiawassee counties. In 1982, when P left D, Health Plus treated only about 8 percent of the area. Blue Cross applied to 65-70 percent of the third-party business in the three-county area. Health Plus must compete with other HMOs and insurers in providing health care coverage. There is no evidence that D physicians cannot also belong to other such organizations. The largest portion of Health Plus's membership is represented by General Motors (GM) employees. In order to obtain the GM business, D must compete on an annual basis by obtaining both GM and UAW approval as an authorized insurer and then, further, convince the employees to choose the Health Plus program. D maintains that as a result of the competition, they have lowered their rates since 1983, while simultaneously increasing the benefits. P joined D in 1979, and until October of 1981, they were the only allergy specialists to provide such service to Health Plus subscribers. In 1980, billing records revealed a high incidence of lab tests performed by P that prompted D's Care, Quality, and Cost Committee to request justification for those tests from P. The Committee began setting guidelines for allergy testing which prohibited routine testing. D also discovered that P performed far more tests than two other specialists, without justification. P was told to resign from D. Health Plus sent out a notice that subscribers could no longer see P. D claims that P's practice was already in decline as D's physicians had ceased referring non-Health Plus patients to P because of patient complaints as well as overuse of tests. D contends that referrals from non-IPA physicians declined almost as fast as referrals from D physicians. In August of 1983, P applied for readmission to D on behalf of their newly established Urgent Care Family Clinic to provide emergency care to D members. P's application was denied without explanation. P's Clinic lost money and, in 1985, it was closed. P sued D alleging that D's reimbursement system violates § 1 of the Sherman Act's prohibition against horizontal agreements among competitors to fix prices. P maintains that D established a schedule of fees for services to which its competitor/members agreed to adhere and this is a per se violation of Section 1. D moved for summary judgment.

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