This case involves an alleged breach of contract between a rehabilitation services system and a health insurance company in Arizona. The plaintiff system alleged that the health insurance company underpaid for inpatient rehabilitation services. It was also alleged that the health insurance company paid for the inpatient rehabilitation services as if they were another category of services, the latter of which is paid at a much lower rate. An expert was requested to examine the various claims forms that were submitted and evaluate the contract in order to determine whether there has been underpayment by the health insurance company for the services provided by the rehabilitation system.
Question(s) For Expert Witness
1. How long have you been involved in the healthcare/health insurance industry, and in what capacity?
2. Do you have experience evaluating claims and contracts?
Expert Witness Response E-103196
I have been in healthcare administration for 20 years in various health systems, with responsibility for billing, insurance, network contract administration, collections, admissions, pre-admission testing, and other departments directly related to the revenue cycle of hospital. I have been the President of my health claims auditing company for 14+ years, where I direct and perform claims audits throughout the U.S. In every aspect of my career (hospital, auditing, and legal cases), I have had responsibility for evaluating claims and contracts. I am familiar with reimbursement variances in different levels of care based on negotiated contract terms. I have reviewed similar cases. One was for a federal case involving a major insurance claims administrator and a major self-insured employer. This case involved the analysis of many contracts and the claims administrator to administer the terms accurately creating millions of dollars in overpayments.
About the author
Joseph O'Neill
Joe has extensive experience in online journalism and technical writing across a range of legal topics, including personal injury, meidcal malpractice, mass torts, consumer litigation, commercial litigation, and more. Joe spent close to six years working at Expert Institute, finishing up his role here as Director of Marketing. He has considerable knowledge across an array of legal topics pertaining to expert witnesses. Currently, Joe servces as Owner and Demand Generation Consultant at LightSail Consulting.
