Following the lead of other insurers, including Cigna, UnitedHealth and Aetna, Health Net has agreed to stop using an Ingenix database commonly used by health plans to set out-of-network reimbursement rates for physicians. 

As part of the settlement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who dragged the other insurers into similar agreements, Health Net will contribute $1.6 million toward a new, independent database of out-of-network rates. A total of twelve insurers have agreed to new rules established by Cuomo.

In so doing, Health Net is actually getting away cheaply. Aetna, for example, was assessed a $5.1 million fine [1] to settle charges that it had systematically underpaid physicians; it also paid in $20 million to establish the non-profit organization that will run the new database. UnitedHealth has agreed to pay in $50 million [2] toward the database.

To learn more about the settlement:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece [3]


Related Articles:
Aetna to pay $5 million over underpaid, out-of-network charges [4]
UnitedHealth inks $50 million settlement with NY over Ingenix charges [5]
NY sues UnitedHealth over MD payments [6]
New York AG expands health plan investigation [7]