An insurance company facing a lawsuit by the Medical Society of New Jersey agreed Thursday to temporarily halt its efforts to recoup $15 million in alleged overpayments to doctors.
Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield has claimed that because of a computer error it overpaid more than 600 doctors for heart procedures.
The medical society now will have to provide the court with more information about the payments to the cardiologists. If the data show that the doctors were overpaid, the doctors would be given time to reimburse Horizon.
Steven Kern, general counsel for the medical society, said the organization doubts that Horizon will be able to prove any overpayments. "Indeed, we fully expect to show that Horizon has routinely underpaid physicians for their services," Kern said.
A Horizon spokesman has previously said that the doctors are not entitled to the overpayments, just as employees who erroneously receive too much in their paychecks are not entitled to that money.
