Vindication! Fifth Circuit Reverses Notorious District Court Health Care Fraud Decision

Seyfarth Synopsis: In a major victory for ERISA plans and other payors, the Fifth Circuit recently overturned a district court's notorious decision in favor of a healthcare provider and reinstated a plan administrator's ability to guard against healthcare billing fraud, waste, and abuse.

On December 19, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. v. Humble Surgical Hospital, LLC, 878 F.3d 478 (5th Cir 2017), reversing a highly publicized trial court decision that threatened the ability of ERISA plans, insurers, and other payors to safeguard their coffers from providers engaged in healthcare fraud, waste, and abuse.

As described by the Court of Appeals, between 2010 and the initiation of litigation in 2016, Humble Surgical Hospital ("Humble"), a physician-owned hospital in Harris County, Texas, performed hundreds of non-emergency services on members of ERISA and welfare benefit plans administered by Connecticut General Life Insurance Company and its parent corporation (together, "Cigna"). After processing an expensive claim from Humble for what appeared to be a noncomplex outpatient surgical procedure, Cigna increased its scrutiny of Humble's claims and surveyed plan members whom Humble had treated. Based on its analysis, Cigna concluded that Humble was engaged in "fee-forgiving" (i.e., waiving patients' co-insurance or deductible fees) and also intentionally inflating its charges to increase reimbursements.

Cigna then sued Humble to recover over $5 million in alleged overpayments. In response, Humble asserted counterclaims against Cigna for nonpayment or underpayment of claims, breach of fiduciary duty, and failure to comply with requests for plan documents. After a bench trial, the district court concluded that Cigna's claims and defenses failed as a matter of law. The district court also awarded Humble nearly $11.4 million in damages based on Cigna's underpayment of claims, nearly $2.3 million in statutory penalties based on Cigna's failure to provide plan documents upon request, and over $2.7 million in attorneys' fees based on Humble's success in the litigation. Cigna appealed.

On review, first, the Fifth Circuit reversed the award to Humble of nearly $11.4 million in damages based on underpaid claims and Cigna's purported breach of fiduciary duties. Notably, the Fifth Circuit held both that the plans at issue vested Cigna with discretionary authority to...

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