Practice Management Alert

Plus, AMA offers help to physicians claiming damages from UnitedHealth settlement.

A group of the top health insurers in Massachusetts recently filed a lawsuit against that state's insurance regulators, in response to a ruling by the Division of Insurance (DOI) that put a rate cap on premiums for small businesses.

Insurers had proposed base price hikes averaging 8 percent to 32 percent. The DOI in turn argued that any increases should be closer to the medical consumer price index, which has a 4.8 percent inflation rate.

The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans (MAHP) filed the lawsuit on behalf of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and five association members: Fallon Community Health Plan, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, Neighborhood Health Plan, and Health New England.

In other news: The AMA recently launched a new online resource that aims to assist thousands of physicians who filed claims in the AMA's record settlement against UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest health insurer.

UnitedHealth Group agreed to pay more than $350 million to physicians and their patients after it was determined they routinely made artificially low payments for out-of-network services.

You can obtain the AMA's settlement resources at www.ama-assn.org/go/ucrsettlement, or by calling 1-800-621-8335.

The deadline for filing a claim to share in the settlement is October 5, 2010.