Court Rules for UnitedHealth in Suit Brought by Doctors

It’s UnitedHealth: 2, Angry Doctors: 0 as an appeals court upholds a ruling for the insurance company.

In 1999, a group of physicians and medical providers filed a series of nationwide class action lawsuits against UnitedHealthcare, an insurer with a market capitalization of $70.6 billion, and other insurers over reimbursements for the doctors’ services.  As the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal put it, the plaintiffs “claimed the insurers used claims processing software to delay, reduce and deny payments to hundreds of thousands of physicians.”

Most of the insurers settled, but not UnitedHealth. The Minneapolis-based firm stuck with the suit, and in 2006 received a favorable judgment by the Southern District Court of Florida dismissing all remaining claims against the company. The plaintiffs appealed that decision.

United Health’s tough approach paid off yesterday as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the insurer’s favor, upholding the Florida’s court’s decision.

Thomas L. Strickland, executive vice president and chief legal officer of UnitedHealth Group, said in a statement, “This ruling affirms the Southern District Court of Florida’s finding in support of our position that there was no evidence of improper conduct by UnitedHealth Group. UnitedHealth Group looks forward to continuing to work collegially with physicians and their professional organizations to improve the quality of care delivery and to simplify health care administration.”