Porter Health Care System in Valparaiso, Ind., recently mailed letters to more than 2,000 patients with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans regarding billing problems, according to NWI Times.
The billing error affects BCBS members who visited the emergency departments of Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso and Portage or received inpatient care from a hospitalist physician between March 1 and May 13, according to the report.
Porter recently signed on a new physician group, Atlantic Silverside, for emergency and hospital-based care. However, a delay with BCBS credentialing resulted in affected patients receiving an explanation of benefits from the insurer or a bill from the physician group stating the physicians are out of network, leaving the patients responsible for the full balance.
"At Porter Health Care System, we value our patients. Patients who received these bills will be treated as if they were in network at the time of treatment," said Karen Keltner, a spokeswoman for the hospital system, according to the report. "We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this has caused."