M&As – Novation and Recertification
The Ninth Circuit significantly limited insurers' ability to rely on anti-assignment provisions in ERISA health plans in Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital v. Community Insurance Company dba Anthem Blue Cross Blue...more
Recently, a three-judge panel in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a district court dismissal of an out-of-network provider’s claims against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (“BCBSIL”). The unanimous...more
Anti-assignment clauses in ERISA health plans are useful to plan sponsors in fending off lawsuits by out-of-network providers. Federal courts have consistently upheld anti-assignment provisions contained in the plan document...more
Nonqualified deferred compensation plans often include anti-assignment language prohibiting a plan participant from assigning benefits to anyone. Because top-hat plans are exempt from most aspects of ERISA including the...more
In Cal. Spine & Neurosurgery Inst. v. Blue Cross of Cal., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 20533 (9th Cir. June 20, 2020), the Ninth Circuit held that a surgical provider's complaint sufficiently alleged that Blue Cross of California...more
Our blog series on best practices in administering benefit claims has thus far stressed the importance of knowing and reading the plan document and summary plan description. This week, we take a look at a plan term that has...more
Synopsis: Two Courts of Appeal reach opposite results on ERISA preemption, thus continuing the judicial quest for a definitive meaning of ERISA preemption. Stay tuned for more such decisions, and yet more Supreme Court...more
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), health care providers can file legal actions to recover employee benefits if they obtain a proper assignment of the patient’s benefits. Increasingly, however, ERISA...more
Earlier this year, the Department of Labor issued an information letter explaining ERISA’s authorized representative requirement. Below are some of the takeaways employers may want to consider....more
Editor's Overview - As the summer heats up, so too has the U.S. Supreme Court's docket for next term where it has already agreed to hear three ERISA cases and more may be in the works. On the docket already are ERISA...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently confirmed that “anti-assignment” provisions — provisions prohibiting insureds from assigning their rights under a health plan to third parties, including medical...more
The Third Circuit recently held that anti-assignment clauses in ERISA-governed healthcare plans are enforceable as long as they are unambiguous. The Court concluded that the anti-assignment clause clearly stated that...more
The list of the federal courts of appeals enforcing unambiguous anti-assignment provisions in ERISA health benefit plans continues to grow: almost exactly one year ago, the Third Circuit joined its sister circuits in holding...more
In this episode, Gary Qualls discusses a recent development in payer litigation which implicates a number of recurring issues often raised in Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) cases. Specifically, a federal...more
On December 4, 2018 United States District Judge Noel L. Hillman dismissed a suit for unpaid medical bills by a healthcare provider against its patient’s ERISA-governed health benefits plan, finding the assignment/power of...more
This Advisory supplements our previous advisories dated January 2018, December 2016, December 2015 (as supplemented in January 2016), October 2014, October 2013, November 2012, November 2011, and October 2010, addressing...more
There were several recent court decisions that have addressed the right of medical providers, acting under assignments of ERISA plan benefits from patients, to seek plan documents and summary plan descriptions, and to sue...more
This month's Friday Five covers cases relating to preemption, anti-assignment provisions, discretionary clause bans and the "de facto" administrator theory. We also examine a case upholding a denial of accidental death...more
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed the insurance industry a small victory by holding that, in American Orthopedic & Sports Med. v. Indep. Blue Cross Blue Shield, unambiguous anti-assignment...more
In Eden Surgical Ctr. v. Cognizant Tech. Sols. Corp., No. 16-56422, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 10597 (9th Cir., Apr. 26, 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court’s Order dismissing the...more
U.S. Courts of Appeals in all but four Circuits have now held that anti-assignment provisions in health insurance plans governed by ERISA are enforceable. In American Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine v. Independence Blue Cross...more
On May 16, 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held in a precedential opinion that “anti-assignment clauses in ERISA-governed health insurance plans as a general matter are enforceable.” In so holding, the...more
SEYFARTH SYNOPSIS: The Ninth Circuit recently dealt another major blow to healthcare providers that attempt to bring suits as assignees of their individual patients, holding that an ERISA plan’s anti-assignment provision bars...more
Over the past couple years, more and more of my clients with self-funded plans have received letters from out-of-network providers appealing denied claims. The letters are usually 20 to 30 pages long, not very specific, and...more