Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in Durham removed Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health System providers from its online directory ahead of a looming Oct. 5 contract deadline, the health system reported.
The move is the latest event in the organizations' ongoing contract dispute first publicized in early July. On its recently launched "Stand with Mission" website, Mission wrote, "BCBSNC has removed all Mission Health providers from its online directory, with the exclusion of Medicare Advantage. This overt and senseless action has created unnecessary confusion for BCBSNC members. Most Mission Health providers are in network with BCBSNC until midnight on October 4."
In addition, Mission released a plan Aug. 17 to "help consumers affected by the inevitable end of its current contract with BCBSNC." In its plan, Mission said it will discount affected patients' bill balance after they meet their personal financial obligations. The discount will be applied if patients send their explanation of benefits and any check from BCBSNC to Mission within 10 days.
"This process is designed to manage any circumstance where BCBSNC may send benefit payments directly to the patient rather than to Mission Health as the service provider. This practice, already illegal in the majority of states in America, is something that BCBSNC has routinely threatened to do," the system claims.
Brad Wilson, president and CEO of BCBSNC, wrote in a Citizen-Times column this week Mission has "100 percent control over what happens next" in the organizations clash over reimbursement rates.
Mr. Wilson continued: "Before Mission Health walked away, we offered a fair contract with increases tied to quality and patient outcomes. More than 40 other hospitals in the state have committed to holding the line on costs and agreed to similar terms. Mission Health stands alone as the only health system leaving our network."