Transgender Louisiana doctor in negotiations with 2 of 3 insurance companies for compensation

Dr. Tiffany Najberg's Shreveport UrgentEMS clinic has been under financial strain since Najberg came out as transgender and changed her first name. She says several insurance companies refused to reimburse her for patient care and the clinic is facing potential closure.

Since her name change in 2021, Najberg has lost an estimated $150,000 in payments from insurance companies Humana, Cigna and CVS-owned Aetna. On Saturday, Jan. 7 Najberg created a petition on the Change.org website to call them out and at the time of publication has amassed over 4,300 signatures.

Now, representatives from the insurance companies have made contact with Najberg and her legal team to negotiate terms.

Read the original story here: Transgender Louisiana doctor says she was denied insurance payments due to name change

Aetna provided the following statement to The Times:

"At Aetna, we value our relationship with our providers and strive to resolve any issues they may experience as quickly as possible."

Najberg's forensic billing expert English Perez reached out stating they have spoken with representatives from Aetna who clarified the claims that were denied were due to the name on the claim not matching their databases.

"This was dealing with 2021 and 2022 claims which had been submitted as clean claims for out-of-network processing," said Perez. We reviewed a few claims and verified the provider was/is Dr. Tiffany Najberg and the NPI and Tax ID were a match. I requested all claims that were denied to be reprocessed and expedited for payment. I reminded the representative when the claim is reprocessed and paid according to the Public Health Emergency guidelines, interest on the claim would also be due. I suggested the Aetna claims and processing teams have training in diversity and inclusion because the failure to pay claims upon a name change is inexcusable and damaging behavior."

Humana also reached out.

"Celebrating diverse backgrounds and creating an environment of inclusion is at the heart of Humana.  We also have a strong and longtime commitment to the state of Louisiana and the members and providers we serve throughout the state," a representative of the company said in a statement. "We have looked into this matter and discovered that the contract on file has a different provider name (doctor and business) and requires additional information to process the claims. We are expediting a new contract with the provider so that the claims may be processed."

In addition to the negotiations going forward to receive compensation, she came into the clinic this morning to find an anonymous donor had left a check for $5,000 to cover the overdue rent. With this money, UrgentEMS will be able to keep its doors open for another month while Najberg waits for the compensation from the insurance companies to come in.

"My goal isn't to just mindlessly attack them, I simply want fair reimbursement for services rendered," Najberg explained. "I used my life savings to cover what they didn't give me. I mean, $150,000 is not a tiny amount of money. The other thing is this fight has implications that are far wider. This isn't just me wanting to address a personal grievance, I also don't want this happening to others."

At the time of the publication, Cigna has not responded to a request for comment.

Meredith G. White is the arts and culture reporter for the Shreveport Times. You can find her on Facebook as Meredith G. White, on Instagram and Twitter as @meredithgwhite, and email her at mgwhite@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Transgender doctor in Louisiana hears from insurance companies