Humana Agrees to Proposed Settlement with Chiropractors, Non-MD Providers for $3.5 Million

(Arlington, Va. - Aug. 16, 2006) Humana has agreed to a class action settlement resolving claims on behalf of chiropractors and other health care providers in Solomon v. Anthem, et. al., pending before Judge Frederico Moreno of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The ACA participated, through its counsel, in the settlement discussions and is a signatory to the proposed class action settlement agreement. If approved by the Court, Humana will pay $3.5 million to fund payments to class member chiropractors and other health care providers as well as fees and costs advanced by class counsel. Plaintiffs in the Solomon action recently filed a motion seeking to add the ACA as a named plaintiff in the Solomon case and requesting that ACN Group, Inc. and United Healthcare Services, Inc. be added as defendants. The case against ACN, United Healthcare Services and all remaining defendants is still pending. In addition to the cash fund described above, terms of the proposed settlement agreement with Humana include: • Changes in Humana’s business practices, intended to make its claims editing process more transparent and reduce confusion and disagreement over payments. • Online information provided by Humana to help providers understand its payment decisions. • More options for chiropractors and other health care providers to challenge Humana payment decisions in the future, if necessary. • Independent external reviews to resolve billing disputes. • The appointment of an ACA representative to a newly formed Humana health care provider advisory committee, which will provide a means of direct communication on issues and concerns. “We are extremely pleased that Humana has agreed to compensate chiropractors and other non-MD providers for claims that were previously and wrongly denied,” commented ACA President Richard Brassard, DC. “More importantly, however, we are heartened that Humana has committed to improving its business practices in the future and are hopeful that other networks and insurance companies will follow suit. Doing so can only benefit the nation’s health care consumers, who also deserve fair treatment and reimbursement.” As part of the settlement, doctors of chiropractic will be permitted to assign their portion of the recovery to the ACA, if they wish to do so. For a copy of the settlement agreement, click on the link below.