Last Decade Has Seen Shift in Trends of Litigation Against Health Insurers
In the past, particularly in the 1990s, health care litigation against insurers came primarily from patients who were unsatisfied with the kind of coverage they were receiving for their treatments and procedures. But moving into the 21st century, there has been a significant rise in the amount of lawsuits against insurers coming from health care providers.
A significant amount of these lawsuits have come in the form of class-action suits. While doctors used to fear fighting back against managed care organizations due to the risk of being de-listed, they have been able to find more power through class-action suits so that they do not have to risk any type of retaliation.
This shift was particularly obvious early in the 2000s. Class action lawsuits against insurers nearly tripled in volume from the period of 1996-1999 to the period of 2000-2005. As a result, in the last decade we have seen some gigantic settlements in health care litigation, mostly through class action suits by providers.
The issues at stake in these suits vary from case to case, but commonly deal with insurance companies reducing, delaying or altogether denying payments to providers. Reimbursement continues to be a prevalent issue today, especially in the wake of widespread health care reform at the national level.
If your organization has been having trouble with your insurance providers, you may be able to get in on a class-action lawsuit with other health care providers. For information on how you can proceed in such a case and what your legal options are, work with an experienced New Jersey health care litigation attorney at Buttaci Leardi & Werner, LLC.
Tagged with: health care compliance, health care regulation
- Posted on: Nov 13 2014