1. Anthem Blue Cross in California shut out two of the largest healthcare providers in the Los Angeles area — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA Health System — from its health plan for city employees because the health systems are “too expensive.”
2. Regulators at the Massachusetts Division of Insurance gave the OK for Boston-based Partners HealthCare to acquire Neighborhood Health Plan — the first health plan Partners has acquired.
3. Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark said it will launch a new health plan, Community Blue, in western Pennsylvania starting Jan. 1, but most University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospitals and physicians will be considered out-of-network.
4. Coordinated Health – Bethlehem (Pa.) and Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark ended their contract after the two sides could not negotiate new payment rates.
5. St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho, formed a partnership with SelectHealth, a health plan part of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, to offer new value-based health insurance benefits to Idaho residents.
6. California Senate Bill 359, which would limit the charges of a hospital’s out-of-network emergency department plan, passed both the Senate and Assembly and now awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown.
7. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard Health Systems, Boston-based Tufts Medical Center and the New England Quality Care Alliance — a non-profit physician network of Tufts with 1,600 physicians — announced they will sponsor a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan.
8. Iowa Health System in Des Moines and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit both finalized agreements with Meridian Health Plan, a physician-owned Medicaid HMO.
9. Marietta, Ga.-based WellStar Health System signed a three-year agreement with health insurer Aetna.
10. Charlotte, N.C.-based Novant Health and health insurer Aetna reached a multiyear contract, ensuring Novant’s 13 hospitals and several clinics stay within Aetna’s network.
11. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems and Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield reached a new agreement on reimbursement rates.
More Articles on Hospital-Payor Relationships:
Allina Health, BCBS of Minnesota Launch ACO-Like Health Plan
The Benefits and Challenges of CO-OPs: Where Do They Fit in Healthcare Reform?
Landmark Medical Center, Blue Cross of Rhode Island Reach Contract Agreement
