Years ago, in the time of the UCR, we uncovered patterns of a wide range of "allowed amounts" for the same services within close time proximity by Payers who claimed these rates were based on a national database. Ingenix was the most frequently mentioned along with Concentra and others. After a little review we found that Ingenix was owned by UHC and other major carriers submitted their databases to them. We questioned whether this was an anti-trust issue and no one batted an eye.
Heaven forbid providers share rate information. But I digress to my recent favorite topic of the double standards we must endure...for now.
A few months ago my eyes lit up upon reading that Ingenix, UHC and others had made a significant settlement regarding the rates used from these companies in a class action lawsuit. This was followed by the NY Attorney General Cuomo's investigations and most recently Rockelfeller's Senate Committee investigation. See the following link:
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/07/13/bisb0713.htm.
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