Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit the ambulance industry brought against seven insurers because they refuse to directly pay ambulance services unless they sign discount agreements.
The Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, which represents about 200 ambulance companies, and 16 individual ambulance services including Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, claimed Highmark and the other insurers colluded in a racketeering scheme to force them into the discounts.
The insurers send ambulance service payments to the people who receive the service, and then it is up to the companies to collect the money. By comparison, other health care providers are paid directly by insurers.
U.S. District Judge David Cercone said the ambulance industry’s complaint can’t proceed because state law doesn’t define them as health care providers entitled to direct payments. Consequently, the insurers aren’t denying them of something they’re entitled to receive, the judge ruled.
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