The Georgia Insurance Commissioner fined Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield $5 million for claims processing errors — the largest in the agency’s history.

Anthem repeatedly failed to comply with state law between 2015 and 2021, Insurance Commissioner John King (R) Announce Tuesday. According to the regulator, these included improper claims settlement practices, breaches of the National Instant Payments Act, failure to respond to consumer complaints in a timely manner, inaccurate supplier directories and delays in loading supplier contracts.

“My number one priority is to protect Georgia consumers,” King said in a news release. “Following multiple complaints to our office about the operations of Blue Cross Blue Shield from individuals, doctors, hospitals and others from across the state, I have directed my staff to conduct an extensive review of the carrier’s practices.”

King said Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield could also be subject to more penalties if it did not comply with the benchmarks set out in the insurer’s corrective action plan.

In a statement, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said the investigation focused on a database system that is no longer in use, and the company is working to process and pay claims as quickly and efficiently as possible in accordance with vendor agreements and state regulations.

“As the department knows, we work hard to meet these challenges,” the company said. “We’ve migrated to a new platform with the goal of increasing accuracy and transparency. We’re committed to the people we serve and work with, and we believe the improvements we’ve made recently will improve the overall care provider experience.”

According to the state of Georgia, the insurer had been out of compliance with timeliness requirements since 2018, before implementing an alternative provider database system last year.

The most common errors cited by providers are in-network claims being treated as out-of-network and claims being denied by insurers for unknown reasons. The insurance department found that these two types of problems were mainly due to incomplete and inaccurate claims data submissions due to system coding errors.

The corrective action plan required Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to develop a new process for handling supplier complaints, paying claims within statutory time limits, uploading supplier contracts in a timely manner and submitting monthly reports on their progress. The day-to-day business practices of insurers will be monitored to ensure compliance with the order.