From: milne_v@hotmail.com (milne_v) Newsgroups: alt.mindcontrol Subject: class action status in lawsuit for 700,000 doctors Date: 28 Sep 2002 07:41:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 37 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.215.29.66 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1033224069 7221 127.0.0.1 (28 Sep 2002 14:41:09 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 28 Sep 2002 14:41:09 GMT Path: rsl2.rslnet.net!cyclone.bc.net!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: rsl2.rslnet.net alt.mindcontrol:3165 MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Any doctor in the United States who accepted HMO patients between 1990 and 2002 now can add his or her name to a lawsuit that accuses health providers of committing fraud. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno on Thursday certified class action status in a lawsuit in which approximately 700,000 doctors accuse major health maintenance organizations of violating the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Act (RICO). The providers named in the suit are some of the countries largest organizations: Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., WellPoint Health Networks Inc. and HealthNet Inc. "It's a great day for doctors who have been cheated by the industry," said Archie Lamb, attorney for the state medical associations of California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. According to Lamb, the healthcare providers "violated the contract, lied about not receiving the bill, changed the billing codes, held the money for payment for 60 and 90 days, systemically schemed to defraud." While certifying the doctors' class, Moreno denied class status for 145 million patients covered by the HMOs. The doctor's class action lawsuit is scheduled for trial in May 2003. According to a report by Reuters, lawyers representing several state medical associations accused big health groups, including Humana Inc., of defrauding doctors of fair payments by arbitrarily and routinely cutting fees. Attorneys for the health organizations fought class action status, saying a single lawsuit would be unwieldy and arguing individual disputes could be handled through arbitrations. The ruling allows the doctors to consolidate their claims into a single lawsuit but denied the same status to patients seeking compensation from the health groups. http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/09/26/hmo.lawsuit/index.html