Just what do the Aetna, CIGNA, Health Net, and Anthem/WellPoint settlements in the physicians' national antiracketeering class action lawsuits mean for how physicians do business with these health plans in the future? Here's a side-by-side comparison of the billing, coding, and payment provisions of the four settlements and existing federal law.

Here are the topics the comparison covers:

• E&M Downcoding
• Add On and Modifier -51 Exempt
• Modifier -25
• Supervision and Interpretation
• Indented Codes
• Modifier -59
• Global Periods
• Automatic Downcoding of Service Intensity
• Annual Update of Modifier-51-Exempt Codes
• Non-exclusive Listing of Modifiers
  

For even more details, see:

• The complete  Aetna settlement
• The complete  CIGNA settlement
• The complete  Health Net settlement
• The complete  Anthem/WellPoint settlement