Doctors await judge's call on CIGNA settlement

The decision could affect other class-action lawsuits moving through federal court.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. March 17, 2003.

Hundreds of thousands of physicians who have a stake in a proposed settlement with CIGNA Corp. over the way it has been reimbursing physicians are a step closer to knowing whether the agreement will go forward or be scrapped.

The federal judge in Miami who has been presiding over all of the other federal managed care lawsuits will hear arguments for and against the CIGNA settlement proposal, originally filed in a federal court in Illinois, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided in late February.

The proposed CIGNA settlement has been on hold since December 2002, just weeks after it was announced, while the federal courts figured out who should oversee it.

"The waiting is over," said Judy L. Cates, an attorney representing the physician who originally brought the lawsuit against CIGNA in an Illinois state court. "The fact that we are moving forward is good for physicians because during the delay, misconduct has continued."

Physicians who have opposed the settlement say the decision to let the judge in Florida conduct the fairness hearing gives them hope they will now have an opportunity to speak against it.

"The most important thing is that the judge who knows the most about managed care litigation will hear arguments for and against the settlement," added Archie Lamb, co-lead counsel representing individual doctors and medical associations that are plaintiffs in the lawsuits moving through the Miami courtroom.

CIGNA spokesman Wendell Potter said the company was still "very committed" to the settlement, which includes physicians, hospitals, therapists and other health professionals.