A Kansas hospital has sued Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company and its South Care PPO over $3.2 million in disputed claims. In the suit, North Kansas City Hospital says that it is actually owed a total $5 million, but that under the terms of its HMO contract, it will go into arbitration to recover the $1.8 million it says it is owed there. The hospital recently announced that it would drop its contract with Coventry as of January 2007. In prior years, Coventry claims have represented $12 million to $14 million per year in revenue for the hospital--about 3 percent of its overall volume--but "99 percent of the problems" when it comes to collecting from health plans, the hospital's CFO told the Kansas City Business Journal. The real question is this: Given its track record, why did the hospital let Coventry get so far into arrears this time around?

For more about the Coventry dispute:
- read this article [1] in the Kansas City Star
- read this piece [2] from the Kansas City Business Journal