Managed Care Lawsuit Watch

In what appears to be one of the largest class action settlement in the history of ERISA litigation in New Jersey, a federal judge approved $33 million settlement, including $11 million in attorneys’ fees, between Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. (“Horizon”) and plaintiff chiropractors.

The underlying lawsuit stemmed from allegations that Horizon made “across-the-board” denials of

California recently enacted Assembly Bill 72 (“AB 72”) to target surprise medical bills from out-of-network professionals.  The new law applies to commercial plans licensed by the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance.  AB 72 sets reimbursement rates for out-of-network professionals at in-network facilities at either the average contracted rate, or 125

On February 17, 2015, the largest health care provider in Massachusetts, the non-profit Partners Healthcare System, Inc. (Partners), dropped its bid to acquire South Shore Hospital based in South Weymouth, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dropped its antitrust suit that had challenged the acquisition.[1] Whether state or federal regulators will permit Partners’s proposed acquisition of Hallmark Health Corp. (Hallmark)’s two acute care hospital remains to be seen.

The decision by Partners comes a month after a Judge rejected a consent judgment that Partners and former Attorney General of Massachusetts Martha Coakley proposed regarding Partners’s agreement to acquire three acute care hospitals in the greater Boston area.[2] Less than a year ago, on June 24, 2014, the Attorney General of Massachusetts had simultaneously filed a complaint and a proposed consent judgment with Partners regarding Partners’s acquisition of South Shore and two hospitals operated by Hallmark.Continue Reading Partners Halt Acquisition of Boston Area Hospital After Court’s Rejection of Consent Judgment

Managed Care Lawsuit Watch is Crowell & Moring’s summary of key litigation affecting managed care. The latest issue covers a broad range of lawsuits, including: Medicare’s preemption of state common law negligence claims; arbitration clauses in provider agreements; the right of a Medicare Advantage plan to assert a lien on a deceased beneficiary’s negligence settlement;