by March 28, 2014. The settlement ap- plies to physicians who were out-of-net- work providers “at any time” from June 3, 2003, through Aug. 30, 2013, the date the judge preliminarily approved it, and whose claims were not paid in full by Aetna. TMA, the American Medical Associa-


tion, and the medical societies of Califor- nia, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Tennes- see, and Washington sued Aetna in 2009 over its use of databases licensed from Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group Inc. sub- sidiary. Ingenix underpaid physicians for out-of-network services, the lawsuit said. It also challenged other ways Aetna de- termined out-of-network payment rates and accused Aetna of failing to disclose how it figured those rates. A patient filed a similar suit in 2007. Aetna, United, and other insurers


agreed to stop using the Ingenix data- base in settlements with the New York State Attorney General in 2009. That settlement created FAIR Health to take over and improve the database and es- tablish transparent, current, and reliable health care charge information.


TEXPAC gets new director


Clayton Stewart is the new director of TMA’s political arm, the Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee (TEXPAC.) Mr. Stewart most recently was the


director of governmental affairs for the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists. He brings nine-plus years of campaign and legislative experience in his stints as legislative and research assistant, office manager, and campaign manager for three members of the Texas House of Representatives. He received his bachelor’s degree in government from The University of Texas.


He succeeds David Reynolds, who has formed his own consulting company, Reynolds Solutions.


LeichterTxMedAdV3-3-2013-O.indd 1 L AW FIRM PC


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