VA physicians win MCO dispute
Faced with the threat of federal antitrust charges, Trigon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia acceded to the demands of outraged Virginia physicians by dropping a "most-favored nation" clause in its contracts that would have required physicians to give Trigon their lowest rates.
Although physicians had argued the contract violated the spirit of the state’s new Fair Business Practices Act, legal experts note that Trigon, the state’s largest insurer, probably could have fended off charges that the clause violated antitrust laws. A bigger factor in Trigon’s decision to drop the clause, they say, was physicians’ widespread rejection of it. Though the new contract was set to take effect June 30, only a fourth of the state’s 16,000 physicians had signed it before Trigon pulled the plug.
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content