April 19, 2017
A recent decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in DB Healthcare, LLC v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, Inc., No. 14-16518, 2017 WL 1075050 (9th Cir. Mar. 22, 2017) reaffirms that health care providers are not health plan “beneficiaries” with the ability to sue under ERISA. Health care providers may sue under ERISA’s civil enforcement provisions only when armed with robust assignments of benefits and rights from patients and where the governing Plan documents do not prohibit assignments.
*This alert was originally posted on Arent Fox's Behind the Scenes blog. To read this alert in its entirety, please click here.