Attorneys with Burns Charest have filed a proposed class action in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of hospital operator Allegiance Health Management. The lawsuit claims that several healthcare insurance providers – including Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealth --  have conspired to artificially suppress reimbursement rates for out-of-network services provided by hospitals, particularly emergency-based services.

According to the complaint, the insurers used the PPO network MultiPlan to develop and market repricing tools as a “cost containment solution.” Those tools generated underpayments of $22B annually to providers in violation of antitrust laws, causing significant economic losses to Allegiance and others. MultiPlan operates the largest independent PPO network in the U.S., with more than one million health care providers.

A copy of the complaint is available here.