Dive Brief:
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A federal appeals court has rejected UnitedHealthcare's request to kick out a lawsuit challenging its decision to drop 2000 providers of its Medicare Advantage networks.
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Instead, the doctors targeted for dismissal have 30 days to file for arbitration.
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The appellate court handed UnitedHealthcare one victory in that it lifted the injunction stopping the health plan from proceeding with its network cuts.
Dive Insight:
While every legal battle has its own twists and turns, this one should be of interest nationally as a possible indicator of how aggressive health plans can be in cutting their networks back. Health plans have every reason to expect that excluded providers will fight back. This is just the beginning of a long, contentious battle over network size, and the criteria used to tear down networks nationwide.