Volume 6

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 27b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Error to deny insurer’s motion to dismiss and compel arbitration of medical provider’s dispute involving medical bills submitted directly to insurer for treatment of insured — Medical provider who accepts assignment of benefits is required to arbitrate a disputed claim for PIP medical benefits — Medical provider may not avoid arbitration of such dispute merely by raising claim for declaratory relief — Issue of whether insurer has lost right to contest particular covered benefits because it allegedly failed to obtain an independent medical examination is arbitrable, even though medical provider seeks declaratory relief — Section 86.02 does not create declaratory relief as sole and exclusive remedy

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 648a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Insurer challenging reasonableness of medical provider’s charges for treatment/testing performed on named insured in action by medical provider as assignee of insured — Florida Statutes, section 627.736, does not require a report from a medical expert when insurer pays only that portion of charge which is reasonable — Matter is properly in binding arbitration — Fact that insurer does not have report from medical expert in case where only issue is whether charges of medical provider are reasonable does not render claim non-arbitrable — Motion to amend complaint denied

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 612a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Dispute between medical services provider and insurer — Arbitration — Where insurer denied payment for electrodiagnostic procedures performed by assignee after neurologist who reviewed insured’s medical records found that the amount of diagnostic testing was medically unnecessary; assignee filed suit alleging breach of contract and seeking declaration that statute requires an actual physical examination by a physician prior to denial of claimed medical bills; and insurer responded by filing motion to compel arbitration, trial court erred when it denied arbitration and entered final declaratory judgment — Valid written agreement existed requiring application of arbitration code, and arbitration was not waived — Arbitrable issues — Whether diagnostic testing was reasonable and necessary was arbitrable claim — Filing of count for declaratory relief was merely an attempt to avoid arbitration of legitimate claims by raising a coverage issue based upon the lack of a hands-on physical examination prior to denying benefits — Trial court erred as matter of law in finding section 627.736(7)(a) ambiguous and in interpreting the statute to require a physical independent medical examination

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 354a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Dispute between health care provider and insurer — Court is required to follow Third District’s ruling in Orion Ins. Co. v. Magnetic Imaging System, 696 So.2d 475 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997), which held that section 627.736(5) was constitutional and necessarily compelled arbitration — Motion for rehearing denied

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 353b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Dispute between health care provider and insurer — Section 627.736(5), Florida Statutes, validly and clearly compels arbitration — Motion to stay arbitration and vacate order compelling arbitration denied

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 725b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Where health care provider had insured sign one document that said it was not an assignment and simultaneouslysign a second document that said it was an assignment, the two documents canceled each other out, making both a nullity — Insurer’s motion to dismiss health care provider’s suit granted — Arbitration — Unilateral sending of arbitration package which contained an arbitration demand, named the plaintiff’s arbitrator, and included a discovery package and a proposed order setting arbitration did not constitute the commencement of arbitration proceeding for purposes of triggering section 627.736(5) — Arbitration proceeding does not effectively commence unless and until the insurer acknowledges the arbitration demand — Insurer’s payment of bill thereafter is not functional equivalent of a confession of judgment

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 356b

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration — Where insurer refuses to pay certain bills based on its belief that treatment is not covered under policy, insurer’s motion to dismiss and to compel arbitration denied — When the insurer flatly denies that certain treatment is covered, insured retains ability to contest that decision in court of law — Because section 627.736(5) states that providers “may charge only a reasonable amount,” the term “claims dispute” as used in arbitration statute contemplates only disputes in which insurer agrees that certain treatment is covered, but disputes the reasonableness of dollar amount being charged for that treatment

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 720c

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Arbitration

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 573b

Arbitration — Insurance — Personal injury protection — Statute mandating binding arbitration of disputes between medical providers and insurers is unconstitutional as a denial of medical provider’s due process rights — Statute does not violate right of access to courts

6 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 593a

Insurance — Personal injury protection — Action against insurer which discontinued payment of benefits after independent medical examiner advised insurer that injuries were not related to automobile accident — Trial court did not err in finding relevant the testimony of an orthopedic doctor who treated insured prior to date benefits were cut off and who testified regarding medical treatment, future treatment needs, and permanency of insured’s condition — Claim that testimony was cumulative not preserved for appeal where insurer did not object at trial to introduction of doctor’s testimony — Filing of motion for protective order to prevent deposition before trial not sufficient to preserve right to appellate review when the deposition is introduced at trial — No abuse of discretion in excluding portion of deposition in which insurer’s counsel asked physician questions regarding whether he was paid to attend deposition and how much he was paid — Claim that trial court erred in preventing insurer from questioning insured as to whether she had filed third party lawsuit after doctor changed cause of injury in her medical records was not preserved for review where insurer did not make proffer — Ruling was not a clear abuse of discretion — Insurer cannot complain that trial court erred in refusing to advise jury on statutes governing no-fault law and IME cut-offs where insurer made no attempt to introduce evidence relating to IME cut-offs — Attorney’s fees — Error to award 2.0 multiplier without making specific findings