On May 25, 2000, two medical doctors filed a lawsuit in Madison County, Illinois, Circuit Court, the first in a series of legal filings that now includes three class-action lawsuits and thousands of health care providers, including doctors of chiropractic. The lawsuits name CIGNA Healthcare and a number of other plans as defendants. In the legal process, the venue was moved to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
On December 21, 2004, the court preliminarily approved a settlement totaling $11.55 million, along with an additional $7.5 million for attorneys' fees. As a part of the proposed settlement, CIGNA HealthCare has agreed to make certain commitments regarding its business practices and disclosures to health care providers. The court will hold a second hearing on April 26, 2005 at 2:30 p.m., to review the settlement and will decide whether to grant final approval of the settlement.
In general, CIGNA HealthCare and other plans are alleged to have improperly denied, delayed and/or reduced payment to health care providers by engaging in several types of allegedly improper conduct.
Doctors who provided covered services between Jan. 1, 1990 and Dec. 29, 2004 to a CIGNA health care member, or to any person covered by a plan offered or administered by any or all of the following other defendants, are included in the litigation:
- Aetna, Inc.
- Aetna-USHC, Inc.
- Anthem, Inc.
- Coventry Health Care, Inc.
- Health Net, Inc.
- Humana, Inc.
- Humana Health Plan, Inc.
- PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc.
- Prudential Insurance Co. of America
- United Health Care
- United Health Group
- Wellpoint Health Networks, Inc.
Additional details are available at www.cignaprovidersettlement.com.
