SEATTLE — The nation's largest and most influential physicians organization has joined Washington state physicians in their lawsuit against Regence BlueShield. The American Medical Association (AMA) announced yesterday that it will be represented in the case as a co-plaintiff, along with the Washington State Medical Association and six of its physician members.

"This lawsuit has repercussions far beyond Washington state as more health insurers impose financial disincentives which threaten to disrupt patients' longstanding relationships with physicians they know and trust," said AMA Past President J. Edward Hill, MD.

On Thursday, Sept. 21, the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) announced a lawsuit filed by the WSMA and physicians against Regence BlueShield.


The lawsuit, filed on behalf of six physician plaintiffs and the WSMA, is in response to Regence's Select Network plan that affects over 8,000 patients and their physicians. In May, the insurer sent letters to members of Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) in the Puget Sound area stating that their physicians were lacking in the "quality and efficiency of their practices" which resulted in over 500 physicians being dropped from Regence's Select Network.

This lawsuit is in response to the insurer's defamatory introduction of its "high performance" network program and the serious flaws in the program — a program that dropped physicians from Regence's network for SPEEA members — our patients — based on a flawed methodology and inaccurate information.

"Our patients were justifiably outraged to receive letters from Regence saying that their physicians were not in this new 'Select Network' and, in essence, that their physicians did not meet certain quality and efficiency standards," said Dr. W. Hugh Maloney, president of the WSMA.

"Regence's clumsy effort to compare and rank physicians is short-sighted and represents a seriously flawed and misleading approach," said Dr. Hill. "Their use of simplistic and unproven economic criteria discriminates against physicians by failing to recognize the complexities of the health care system, some of which are outside physicians' control."

While Regence has agreed to postpone implementation of the program until July 2007, it has not demonstrated an effort to tangibly work with the WSMA and SPEEA in order to improve the program.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Regence to prevent it from implementing the Select Network Program. It also seeks money damages for the insurer's improper and inaccurate statements to patients that certain physicians failed to meet certain quality and efficiency standards.

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