The OSC voted 4-3 to reject a request from a group of Cincinnati physicians who asked justices to dismiss an appeal from three insurance companies over a lawsuit that accuses the insurers of conspiring to lower reimbursement rates. The Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati and others filed suit against the insurers alleging the HMOs conspired to lower reimbursement rates paid to doctors in Hamilton, Clermont, Warren, and Butler counties. Physicians won procedural rulings in lower courts that would allow their lawsuit to proceed on the merits. After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the insurance companies' appeal of those initial rulings, the doctors asked justices to reverse themselves and dismiss the case as being improvidently allowed. The doctors said justices already had addressed the key issue of whether Ohio courts may look to federal law in determining the scope of arbitration provisions, and should not reconsider the matter.
Physicians claim actions of the insurers caused a decrease in the number of hospitals in the region from 21 in 1991 to the current twelve, despite an increasing population in the area. Doctors also said they had settled claims against a previous defendant, Humana, in which the insurer agreed to increase total annual reimbursements paid to physicians by at least $100 million over the next three years. The amount represents a 33% boost from reimbursements paid in 2002. Aetna, Anthem and United Healthcare opposed the bid to dismiss the appeal, saying court rules do not authorize motions to reconsider orders accepting jurisdiction.