Mark Eavenson brought this class action against Corvel on September 14, raising the county's 2004 class-action total to 55--and bringing his personal total to 21.
This is his first turn as a lead plaintiff in 2004, but last year Eavenson filed 20 class actions in Madison County against insurance providers from around the country. The Lakin Law firm represented Eavenson in all those cases.
Corvel Corporation is a national provider of healthcare management services for the workers' compensation, auto, group health and disability insurance markets. Their clients include employers, insurance companies, TPA's and government entities. In addition to our national network of preferred healthcare providers, Corvel offers case management, medical bill review and disability management programs.
In the latest case Eavenson, a licensed chiropractor in Granite City, claims Corvel wrongfully and deceptively entered into preferred provider organizations (PPOs) to increase its volume of auto and workers-compensation clients seeking services from the providers through referrals, channeling, and steerage.
A PPO is a network of healthcare providers who agree to offer preferred pricing, in return for receiving increased patient referrals.
Eavenson alleges however that Corvel did not fulfill its obligation under its agreement, and did not take the requisite steps to provide such referrals.
As a result of this misconduct, Eavenson claims that Corvel increased profits, while he was injured by being paid discounted fees for services without obtaining the expected benefits of the referrals.
He also claims that Corvel used biased software to reprice bills. This software allegedly is in place to reduce payments to providers in order to boost sales and profits and to set cap fees.
The case was assigned to Judge Phillip Kardis who presides in Granite City.