CIGNA settles massive managed care lawsuit

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2002/12/16/prl11216.htm

That lawsuit -- which accuses CIGNA of bundling, downcoding and arbitrarily denying claims -- was the first physician-filed lawsuit against an HMO to get class-action certification. It now stands to be the first lawsuit in which physicians will recover tens of millions of dollars and will see some changes in the way that a managed care company interacts with physicians on matters of billing.
"It's a great win for doctors," said Alton, Ill., otolaryngologist Timothy N. Kaiser, MD, who originally filed the lawsuit against CIGNA along with Irving, Texas, pediatrician Suzanne LeBel Corrigan, MD, because they were tired of getting the runaround when they billed for their services. "It demonstrates that individual physicians can make a big difference."