Philadelphia-based CIGNA received top marks in a recently issued ranking of the nation's insurers, conducted by Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth Inc. and Baltimore-based Physicians Practice journal.
Findings from the 2007 PayerView Rankings:
· Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna moved from a ranking of 4th in 2006 to 2nd in 2007.
· The rankings indicate an increased burden put on physicians in having to manage patient collections due to consumer-directed health plans, co-insurance, co-pays, and high-deductible plans.
· DAR for processing claims decreased close to 5 percent for national payers and 3 percent for regional payers from the 2006 rankings.
· Blue Cross & Blue Shield Rhode Island had the lowest DAR of any payer in the nation.
· Patient liability is on the rise. Blue Shield of California was the lowest ranked payer in the nation with a percent patient liability of 16.9 percent.
The ranking is designed to quantify the "ease of doing business with the payer," according to athenahealth. All data used for the rankings came from actual claims performance data of athenahealth providers.
