Settlement-created groups seek grant proposals

Medical society leaders say the two foundations will promote high-quality health care and help physicians in their practices.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Feb. 7, 2005.

Two foundations created from the settlements of physician class-action lawsuits against CIGNA and Aetna are seeking grant proposals for projects that foundation leaders say would improve physician practices.

They said the foundations would give physicians the tools to improve practice management, promote patient safety and facilitate physician education.

"These suits were never about the money. They were all about changing the system and moving forward," said Tim Norbeck, executive director of the Connecticut State Medical Society and president of both foundations. "We have an unprecedented opportunity to help doctors in their practices."

The Connecticut society was one of the original groups to sue Aetna and CIGNA over the way they paid doctors. The Texas Medical Assn., California Medical Assn. and more than a dozen others were part of the original suits.

The class-action settlements that physicians signed with CIGNA and Aetna in 2003 provided some financial relief for claims filed over the past decade. Norbeck praised the American Medical Association for playing an important role in the agreements. "The AMA was very much involved in helping us get to this point."

Of the two foundations, Donald J. Palmisano, MD, AMA immediate past president, said in a statement: "We anticipate that the physicians' foundations created as a result of the Aetna and CIGNA settlements will soon provide funds through the grant-making process that will ultimately benefit practicing physicians and their patients related to health information technology, including electronic health records and practice management systems. [The] AMA shares the foundations' vision regarding the potential revolutionary use of information technology to improve health care quality, cut medical system errors, strengthen patient privacy protections and allow more time to be devoted to patients."