Judge Federico A. Moreno of the United States Federal Court for
the Southern District of Florida issued an important Order today in the
physicians and patients lawsuit against the abusive practices of HMOs. Today’s
Order announced the lifting of the stay of merit discovery as to All Tracks
effective Monday September 30, 2002. The In Re Managed Care lawsuit, which has
been on hold for almost a year due to various appeals by the healthcare
industry, will now move forward. The Order is in response to Plaintiffs’ Motion
to Lift Stay of Discovery filed on June 27, 2002 and the related hearing
conducted on July 16, 2002 in Miami. 
“Aetna U.S. Healthcare and United Healthcare will review denied
claims to New York patients rejected from as far back as 1994 because of
inadequate notification to patients” noted the New York Department of Insurance
as quoted in a recent article by AMNews staff writer Cheryl Jackson. Ms. Jackson
goes on to note that this agreement with New York state regulators may also have
an impact on physicians seeking reviews related to denied payments. The
discrepancies were noted by the state insurance department in a routine market
conduct exam. For the entire article, please go to: www.law.com.