Select each insurer’s name on the Wall of Shame to see what we have uncovered: detailed underpayments that reveal examples of revenue withheld from emergency physician groups across the US.
Insurers are systematically underpaying providers, gaming the system to pad their profits while leaving hospitals, physician groups, and emergency care providers with significant financial stress. Every denied, delayed, or underpaid claim is an attack on the stability of our entire healthcare system.
At Allia Group, we expose and fight back against these abusive tactics. We’ve uncovered over a billion dollars in underpayments wrongfully withheld from providers who delivered lifesaving care. These calculated moves are designed to control costs and overwhelm providers to the point of acceptance of inadequate reimbursements.
The worst part? Payers are getting away with it. Complex policies, bureaucratic delays, and intentionally vague denials empower insurers to stall payments, betting that most providers don’t have the time or resources to fight back.
The only way to fix a broken system is to challenge it directly. Allia Group is working to shift the balance of power in reimbursement by holding payers accountable and advocating for lasting, industry-wide change.
Healthcare providers: you have the power to change the system. Stop absorbing these damages and start pushing back: let’s battle together.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from UnitedHealthcare:
St. Vincent’s Emergency Physicians
NES | New Jersey
2 hospitals | 2019-2023
NES | California
4 hospitals | 2020-2023
ApolloMD | California
3 hospitals | 2020-2023
UnitedHealthcare’s notorious track record of underpaying providers has landed them at the top of our Wall of Shame.
Across the country, hospitals and physician groups including TeamHealth and Envision Healthcare have faced crippling underpayments from UnitedHealthcare—rates far below what’s reasonable or contractually owed. Proven in court, these cases illustrate a pattern of behavior that threatens the financial stability of healthcare organizations, undermines access to care, and strains the frontline systems patients depend on.
If that wasn’t enough, UnitedHealthcare conspires with middlemen like Claritev (Formerly known as Multiplan) and PBMs to mark up healthcare costs for providers and patients and line their pockets with the profits.
The instances of millions left unpaid by UnitedHealthcare listed above are all claims that should’ve been compensated fairly. Providers’ frustration has reached a peak, and Allia Group is holding UnitedHealthcare accountable.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from Anthem Blue Cross:
NES | California
4 hospitals | 2019-2023
Anthem Blue Cross has built a reputation for reimbursement practices that shortchange the very providers they rely on. Hospitals and physician groups routinely report payments well below what’s contractually owed or required by law—especially for emergency services. These underpayments aren’t occasional oversights; they form a pattern that weakens provider finances and threatens quality of care.
In California, Anthem was fined $3.5 million by the Department of Managed Health Care for failing to acknowledge and resolve over 47,000 provider payment disputes within legally mandated timeframes. In Georgia, the insurer faced a $5 million penalty, the largest in the state’s history, for listing non-participating providers as in-network and failing to pay providers promptly, leading to staff layoffs at some hospitals . Additionally, Anthem’s policy of retroactively denying emergency room claims based on final diagnoses, rather than presenting symptoms, has drawn challenges for violating federal law and disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.
Examples of Anthem’s underpayments are included above on the Wall of Shame to show what providers are really up against—and how we are working to hold Anthem responsible.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from Blue Shield of California:
NES | California
4 hospitals | 2019-2023
Blue Shield of California’s history of underpayment has chipped away at provider margins for years. From delayed reimbursements to inexplicable denials, providers are often left chasing dollars for their services. The impact is cumulative—and costly. The cases featured on the Wall of Shame show the magnitude of this underpayment, which erodes the financial health of hospitals, clinics, and care teams across California. Allia Group is turning those losses into litigation-driven recovery.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from Cigna:
NES | New Jersey
2 hospitals | 2019-2023
NES | Connecticut
2 hospitals | 2019-2023
NES | California
4 hospitals | 2020-2023
ApolloMD | California
3 hospitals | 2020-2023
Cigna’s claims review practices have sparked national scrutiny—and for good reason. Providers have experienced massive volumes of underpaid or improperly denied claims, often with little to no explanation. The financial damage is measurable and steep. This follows a marked pattern of behavior for Cigna, which also includes scrutiny around the use of AI algorithms to automatically deny medical claims in bulk without human review. Our Wall of Shame includes egregious examples of Cigna’s underpayments, drawing attention to a reimbursement strategy that places cost containment ahead of provider sustainability. Through legal strategy, Allia Group is helping providers confront these patterns head-on.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from Horizon BCBS:
NES | New Jersey
2 hospitals | 2019-2023
In New Jersey and beyond, Horizon BCBS has consistently failed to meet fair reimbursement standards for healthcare providers. Repeated delays, low payments, and administrative hurdles create a healthcare industry where the agents who provide care are left under-resourced and underpaid. These shortfalls don’t go unnoticed—they appear on our Wall of Shame as reminders of how much is at stake. For every dollar denied, care teams are stretched thinner. Allia Group is helping providers recover what’s owed—and send a message that these practices can’t continue unchecked.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from Aetna:
NES | California
4 hospitals | 2020-2023
ApolloMD | California
3 hospitals | 2020-2023
NES | Ohio
2 hospitals | 2019-2023
As one of the most powerful healthcare entities in the U.S., Aetna has the resources to do better, but underpayments continue to surface across its system. Whether in-network or out-of-network, providers report consistent shortfalls between billed services and actual payments, leaving healthcare groups to absorb the difference.
In one notable case, a New Jersey surgical group alleged that Aetna reimbursed them less than three cents on the dollar for pre-authorized procedures, leaving nearly $2 million unpaid. Additionally, a CMS audit found that Aetna miscalculated qualifying payment amounts for air ambulance services, potentially leading to underpayments and complicating the arbitration process under the No Surprises Act.
Aetna’s pattern of underpayment undermines the financial stability of healthcare providers. These values, now documented on the Wall of Shame, represent lost resources that could improve the financial posture of hospitals and physician groups, resulting in better outcomes in patient care. Allia Group is committed to turning this data into results.
Below, find examples of underpayments we have uncovered from Kaiser Permanente:
NES | California
4 hospitals | 2020-2024
Kaiser Permanente’s payment practices have led to mounting financial strain for a wide range of provider organizations.
Providers have faced significant gaps between the cost of care delivered and what Kaiser reimburses, especially for emergency and specialty services. For example, NorthBay Healthcare alleged that Kaiser failed to reimburse over $21.7 million in required emergency services.
Allia Group is helping providers challenge these shortfalls and recover revenue that should have never been lost in the first place.