Montana Blues executive quits after controversial tenure

A radiologist group that was sued after it left the Blues networks hopes Peter Babin's departure could signal the end of the litigation.

By Robert Kazel, AMNews staff. Jan. 31, 2005.

Four months after accusing a group of radiologists of constituting a "predatory monopoly" and launching an unusual antitrust lawsuit against them, BlueCross BlueShield of Montana CEO and Chair Peter Babin resigned amid mounting controversy over his leadership.

Attorneys for the physicians said they hoped Babin's departure would hasten a settlement of the lawsuit.

Peter Babin, in charge of Montana's largest health plan since 2002, quit without explanation Jan. 7. Neither the company nor Babin would comment on the reasons for the departure, though Babin had come under criticism last year in local media and among some physicians in the state for his high compensation, discretionary use of company funds and various management decisions.

As head of the state Blues plan, Babin became a focus of the consternation of many Montana physicians when the company filed a lawsuit in September 2004 against Missoula Radiology, a 12-physician, hospital-based group and the only radiology practice in the area.

The Montana Blues accused the doctors of excluding competition and keeping patient charges high. The group, unhappy over low reimbursements, had decided to leave the Blues network in mid-2003 and began charging patients more than permitted under its former Blues contract. The radiologists have denied any charge of an illegal monopoly.

The suit has drawn the interest of medical societies and antitrust attorneys because of its uniqueness, as well as doctors' fear that a win by the Blues plan might encourage other health plans to use the courts to compel physicians to join their networks.