Dive Brief:
MultiPlan is changing its name to Claritev as the healthcare cost management company weathers a raft of lawsuits from providers alleging price-fixing.
The newly rebranded Claritev will begin trading under a new ticker symbol, CTEV, on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of the month, according to a Monday press release.
The rebrand comes months after the American Medical Association, one of healthcare’s largest professional groups, accused MultiPlan of colluding with health insurers to underpay providers. The company was also named in dozens of other lawsuits that have been consolidated in an Illinois district court.
Dive Insight:
Claritev said the rebrand won’t affect its existing offerings, which include recommending payments for healthcare services, finding inaccurate claims and handling surprise billing negotiations, among other services.
The new name better reflects the full scope of Claritev’s offerings as a healthcare technology company, a spokesperson told Healthcare Dive.
“The new name better reflects the variety of stakeholders we serve across the healthcare ecosystem – from payors to providers and employers – and the diverse set of products we have today,” the spokesperson said.
The cost management firm has faced a wave of recent lawsuits alleging it collaborated with insurers to underpay providers, including litigation from AdventHealth and Community Health Systems, one of the nation’s largest hospital chains.
The AMA’s suit, filed in October, claimed Claritev worked with large health insurers to eliminate competition and suppress payments for out-of-network care. Payers would outsource their out-of-network pricing work to the company, and its algorithms would suggest “artificially low” reimbursement rates — increasing the fees it earns from payer clients, according to the AMA.
A New York Times investigation last year also found the company often recommended low payments for out-of-network care to insurers, saddling patients with high bills. The investigation was cited in a letter from lawmakers to the Department of Labor.
Claritev has said the lawsuits are meritless. One suit filed against the company in California by a bankruptcy liquidator for a health system was dismissed in August after the court determined reimbursement rates aren’t prices that can be fixed.
The ruling was an “encouraging development in our ongoing vigorous defense of similar legal claims against us,” CEO Travis Dalton said during an earnings call in November.
The company also posted lagging financial results that missed investor expectations in the third quarter. During the period, Claritev reported a net loss of $391.5 million, compared with $24.1 million in the prior year and boosted by a hefty goodwill impairment charge.
In December, the company said it had inked a deal with the majority of its creditors to refinance its debt. It held about $4.5 billion in long-term debt as of Sept. 30, according to its earnings.
Claritev will report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 25.
