A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Agency against TeamHealth on Friday, ruling that the plaintiff doesn’t have standing to sue.
Judge Clifton Corker handed down the choice within the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, writing that the plaintiff couldn’t advance the lawsuit since the reimbursements in query got here from government entities, not the Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Agency, which administers advantages for local government employees within the Pelican State.
The Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Agency sued TeamHealth in March, alleging the Knoxville, Tennessee-based provider group violated federal law by inappropriately billing for “tens, if not 1000’s, of lots of of 1000’s of claims” and operating under an opaque corporate structure. The agency sought class-action status to represent every self-funded employer that paid for TeamHealth’s services during the last 4 years.
The plan administrator’s allegations mirrored those made by UnitedHealthcare, which has sued TeamHealth multiple times with various success. The nation’s largest insurer notched a legal win against TeamHealth in May when Corker tossed the provider group’s motion to dismiss the case against it.
The Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Agency’s lawsuit differs from UnitedHealthcare’s grievance, Corker wrote in his opinion Friday. Since the agency didn’t function a fiduciary for local governments’ plans, the administrator did in a roundabout way or not directly suffer due to TeamHealth’s alleged upcoding, Corker wrote.
“Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Agency hinges its argument on the proven fact that it paid TeamHealth’s invoices. But LMRMA, by its own admission, paid those invoices with the local governments’ money. The court fails to see how LMRMA was injured when it never was liable to losing its own assets,” Corker wrote.
TeamHealth and the Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Agency didn’t immediately reply to interview requests.
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