A multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by a former executive medical director at Cambia Health Solutions has been resolved prior to trial, according to Portland attorney Craig Crispin, who said he was “unable to give additional details.”
Jared Ishkanian, spokesman for strategic communications at Regence BlueCross Blue Shield of Oregon, also refrained from commenting, telling The Lund Report via email, “We cannot comment at this time.”
Dr. Michael Kaufman, the executive medical director at Cambia’s affiliate – Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah filed the lawsuit, seeking $4 million in economic damages after being fired by Dr. Csaba Mera, who had been the interim medical director for Cambia and executive medical director for Regence’s Oregon health plan. Mera is now the deputy chief medical officer at Cambia.
Before the lawsuit was resolved, Cambia attempted to have the case dismissed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, but lost on four of its five claims, according to Crispin.
Kaufman asserted that Cambia breached his contract by firing him without cause, alleging his deficiencies were based on biased reporting by Mera who failed to give him adequate time to approve his performance. About the same time he was terminated, Kaufman had applied for the same position as Mera, to become chief medical officer for all the Regence Health Plans. Kaufman also asserts he was not hired as an at-will employee.
Cambia refused to comment on this case, “This is currently in litigation and we therefore cannot comment other than to say that we deny the allegations in this matter,” said Regens Frieden, director or of public relations and stakeholder communications at Cambia Health Solutions
Kaufman was hired by Cambia on Sept. 7, 2011 and paid $275,000 annually, along with a $125,000 sign-on bonus. He asserted that his supervisor, Dr. Ralph Prows, chief medical officer, gave him explicit assurances that he would be protected from an abrupt termination at Cambia and, instead, would be given due process and an opportunity to change his performance to meet expectations. If he hadn’t had those assurances, Kaufman maintained he would not have accepted the position.
Later, in an interview with Jared Short, president of Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Kaufman maintained there were no indications of any performance issues, according to the complaint.
Kaufman also asserted that other employees and executives at Regence had praised his work on several occasions. Had any problems arisen, he had been told a corrective action plan would have been put in place.
Kaufman is an Ivy League educated physician and attorney, and had extensive experience in healthcare management before being hired by Cambia. .
In response, the attorney representing Cambia told The Lund Report that Mera had a telephone conversation with Kaufman shortly before he was fired after raising concerns about his “lack of leadership, lack of initiative and failure to deliver on assigned tasks.”
Earlier, Mera had expressed the same concerns in several meetings with Joan Byrd, vice president of integrated care management at Cambia, according to the response.
“Cambia feels strongly that there is no basis for Dr. Kaufman’s allegations,” Janine C. Blatt, with the law firm Druckman & Blatt, told The Lund Report earlier. “Cambia intends to contest the claims vigorously and is confident in its position and that it will prevail. Dr. Kaufman made very similar allegations in another lawsuit against an employer for whom he worked prior to Cambia. That lawsuit has been dismissed in favor of the employer.”
Diane can be reached at [email protected]
