I'm blogging several times a day about products liability for Law.com and The National Law Journal. Occasionally I cross-post an excerpt of a blog I find interesting.
The federal judge presiding over 40,000 vaginal-mesh cases has appointed Garretson Resolution Group to resolve liens asserted in all six consolidated multidistrict litigation.
Medicare is mandated by federal law to seek repayment for treatment it has provided to allegedly injured patients.
Nonparty Humana Inc., on behalf of itself and other Part C Medicare Advantage organizations, had asked U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin to bar Garretson from negotiating the waiver of reports to federal regulators about settlements.
Were those required reports waived, it would be impossible for Humana and the other organizations to identify settlements and pursue secondary payments from pelvic mesh defendants, the company argued. Humana and the other organizations are private health insurers who receive money from the government to provide Medicare health-care plans.
Federal law makes Medicare the secondary payer for medical services provided to its beneficiaries if there is another party responsible—such as a defendant who committed the tort that caused the beneficiaries' need for medical treatment.
Humana, however, withdrew its request. The order entered by Goodwin and proposed by the plaintiffs was adjusted so that Garretson could not negotiate the waiver of reports to federal regulators about settlements. According to Goodwin's order, Garretson’s role is limited to, among other things, creating processes to ensure payment to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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