The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has given an undertaking to the Competition Authority that it will not play any role in the negotiation of fee levels for medical specialists with health insurance companies.
The agreement follows a Competition Authority investigation into the negotiations which set the fees consultants receive for the treatment of patients covered by private health insurance.
The authority found that the IHCA's collective negotiations on behalf of its members, directly or indirectly, resulted in a fixing of the fees paid to consultants by health insurers.
Competition Authority Monopolies Division Director Paul Gorecki said that he was delighted that the case had come to "a successful conclusion".
"The Competition Authority will now begin a consultation process with the parties in the private healthcare sector in order to provide guidelines for future negotiations," he added.
The IHCA denies that it is in breach of the Act and has entered the undertaking with The Competition Authority without admission of liability.