SEATTLE - The Washington State Medical Association, Regence BlueShield and six doctors have settled a lawsuit that claimed the health insurer used flawed methods and outdated information to exclude more than 500 doctors from a "select" network.

The settlement will give doctors the right to appeal performance-based scores Regence assigns them and also will require Regence to:

--Give the medical association a chance to offer input on any future standards it sets to measure doctors' performance.

--Give the association at least 10 days' notice before releasing any new physicians' scores.

--And post doctors' scores on Regence's Web site along with an explanation of the data used to calculate the scores.

Regence also has agreed to contribute an undisclosed sum to the medical association's education and research foundation.