MERCY HEALTH CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

Samuel R. Carter, M.D., v. Mercy Health, et al.,
Case No. 23AO-CC-00118

If you are or were an independent primary care physician in Missouri in the Mercy health network pursuant to a network affiliation agreement or other agreement (“Network Providers”) during the period of January 1, 2014 through July 9, 2025 this class action lawsuit may affect your rights.

What is this Class Action Settlement About?

A class action settlement was reached with Defendants Mercy Health; Mercy Network, LLC; MHM Support Services; Mercy Health Springfield Communities; Mercy Health East Communities; and Mercy Health Southwest Missouri/Kansas Communities and Joplin, Missouri (the “Mercy Defendants”) in a lawsuit filed by an independent primary care provider against the Mercy Defendants. The lawsuit is known as Samuel R. Carter, M.D., v. Mercy Health, et al., Case No. 23AO-CC-00118.

Plaintiff’s lawsuit alleges that the Mercy Defendants entered into agreements with non-employee physicians to bring those physicians into the Mercy Defendants’ provider network in Missouri. Plaintiff alleges that in those agreements, the Missouri non-employed primary care physicians (“Network Providers”) gave the Mercy Defendants responsibility to act as their power of attorney and that the Mercy Defendants committed to, and had a fiduciary duty to, negotiate and enter into managed care contracts on behalf of and for the benefit of those Network Providers. Plaintiff alleges that under those managed care contracts, Mercy was paid certain value-based payments attributable to Plaintiff and the other Network Providers and that the payments belong to those providers, but that the Mercy Defendants kept that money, concealed their unlawful conduct, breached their contracts and fiduciary duties to Plaintiff and the Network Providers, and have been unjustly enriched. The Mercy Defendants have denied the allegations and all claims of wrongdoing.

Who is included in the lawsuit?

The Court has certified two classes:

• Humana Class: All Missouri citizens who were non-employee primary care physicians who the Mercy Defendants included as network providers in connection with the Humana managed care and value-based contracts who have a net-positive total of Humana shared savings payment amounts, care coordination fee amounts, and quality payment amounts attributable to them during the period from January 1, 2016 through July 9, 2025.

• Aetna Class: All Missouri citizens who were non-employee primary care physicians who the Mercy Defendants included as network providers in connection with the Aetna managed care and value-based contracts during the period from January 1, 2014 through 2023.

Excluded from the Classes are Defendants, any entity in which Defendants have a controlling interest, any of the officers, directors, or employees of the Defendants, the legal representatives, heirs, successors, and assigns of the Defendants, anyone employed with Plaintiff’s counsels’ firms, any Judge to whom this case is assigned, and his or her immediate family. Also excluded from the class are any physicians who are subject to a valid and enforceable arbitration agreement with the Mercy Defendants.

What does the Settlement Provide?

The proposed settlement will provide significant benefits to the Settlement Class Members (meaning those Class Members who do not request to be excluded from the Classes). The settlement was negotiated between the Plaintiff and the Mercy Defendants, through their attorneys and with a mediator, and has been preliminarily approved by the Court. Pursuant to the settlement, the Mercy Defendants agree to pay a total of $12,000,000 for Humana Settlement Class Member relief and $3,000,000 for Aetna Settlement Class Member relief, for a total of $15,000,000 in Settlement Class member relief, costs of settlement administration and notice, the incentive award to the Class Representative, and attorneys’ fees and expenses of Class Counsel.

Each Humana Settlement Class Member and Aetna Settlement Class Member’s award will be based upon a distribution formula to be approved by the Court. The cash award may be as much as hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars, or tens of thousands of dollars or more depending on the amount of value-based payments that Plaintiff and Plaintiffs’ experts contend were attributable to you based upon the information collected in the lawsuit.

If you are a member of the Humana Class or the Aetna Class, your legal rights are affected, and you have a choice to make now:

To understand all your options and how your rights will be affected, as well as the deadlines for action on your part, please read the Legal Notice of Class Action Settlement.

When and where will the Court decide whether to approve the proposed settlement?

The Court will hold a Final Approval Hearing at the Circuit Court of Jasper County on June 17, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. This hearing date may be moved, cancelled or otherwise modified, so please check this settlement website regularly for further details, or access the Court’s docket through the Court’s Case.net website at www.courts.mo.gov, or visit the Office of the Clerk of the Court at the address, Jasper County Circuit Court, Division 3, 633 S. Pearl Ave. Joplin, MO 64801

At this hearing, the Judge will consider all objections, if any, and will consider whether the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate for the Classes. The Judge will listen to people who have asked to speak at the hearing and filed their Notice of Appearance by the applicable deadlines. The Judge may also decide how much to award to Class Counsel for their fees and expenses. At or after the hearing, the Judge will decide whether to approve the proposed class action settlement and the plan of allocation. We do not know how long these decisions will take.