After five grueling years of court battle, the Tennessee Medical Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee have already resolved class action lawsuit over billing and other business practices.
Representatives of the TMA, including more than 900,000 physicians and their medical societies nationwide made the announcement last Friday.
In a statement, TMA said that the provisions of the settlement call for BCBST and other plans to pay more than $128 million to physician-class members. The settlement will also set in motion a series of important business practice changes that will bring the estimated value of the entire settlement consideration to over $1 billion.
Charles R. Handorf, MD, TMA’s president expressed his views about the lawsuit. He said that they regretted having to file lawsuits five years ago to improve the business practices of the largest insurance companies, but they just didn’t have much choice since the situation had become intolerable for their members and their patients.
The suit alleged that numerous Blue Cross Blue Shield plans including BCBST had co-conspired in a massive scheme to defraud doctors in violation of the federal Racketeer influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
The settlement last Friday meant that more than 90 percent of Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans in the country have settled this class action with physicians, including the original claims filed in Tennessee State court in 2002 by the TMA against BCBST.