A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Authority against TeamHealth on Friday, ruling that the plaintiff was not eligible to sue.
Judge Clifton Corker delivered the decision in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, writing that the plaintiff could not proceed with the lawsuit because the reimbursements in question were from government agencies, not government agencies. must be the City of Louisiana Risk Management Agency, which administers benefits to local government employees in the Pelican State.
The Louisiana City Risks Authority sued TeamHealth in March, alleging the Knoxville, Tennessee-based provider group violated federal law by improperly billing “tens, if not more.” I mean thousands, out of hundreds of thousands of claims” and operate under an opaque corporate structure. The agency has sought class action status to represent every self-funded employer who has paid for TeamHealth services in the past four years.
The plan manager’s allegations mirror those of UnitedHealthcare, which has sued TeamHealth several times with varying degrees of success. The nation’s largest insurer won a legal victory over TeamHealth in May when Corker dismissed the provider group’s petition to dismiss the lawsuit against it.
The Louisiana Municipal Risk Management Authority’s case is different from that of UnitedHealthcare, Corker wrote in his view Friday. Because the agency did not act as a trustee for local government plans, the administrator did not directly or indirectly suffer damage because of TeamHealth’s alleged encryption, Corker wrote.
“Louisiana City Risk Management is basing its argument on the fact that it paid TeamHealth’s bills. But LMRMA, by its own admission, paid those bills with local government money. “The Court failed to see how the LMRMA was harmed when it was never at risk of losing its own assets,” Corker wrote.
TeamHealth and the Louisiana City Risk Management Authority did not immediately respond to requests for interviews.
