Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi has said it will once again treat four of 10 Mississippi hospitals owned by Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates as in-network providers, according to a report from The Clarion-Ledger.
The four Mississippi hospitals the health insurer has taken back into its network include Woman's Hospital in Flowood, Tri-Lakes Medical Center in Batesville, Gilmore Regional Medical Center in Amory and Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale. BCBS offered to reinstate the hospitals last week. The hospitals have been out of network since September, although HMA has not been charging those patients out-of-network rates, according to the report.
BCBS spokeswoman Meredith Virden issued a statement to The Clarion-Ledger saying Health Management has not responded to the offer, and therefore the health insurer decided to take on the leadership role and move forward with reinstating the hospitals.
Earlier this year, BCBS sent a termination notice to Health Management informing the company it intended to ax its contracts with 10 of the hospital operator's Mississippi facilities after they all sued the insurer, claiming the payer has been underpaying them by millions for certain inpatient procedures.
Gov. Phil Bryant sent a letter to BCBS officials last week warning that keeping the 10 hospitals out of its provider network would hurt patients and reduce access to care, according to the report. In response, the health insurer sought a temporary restraining order in federal court to prevent Gov. Bryant from issuing an executive order forcing BCBS to reinstate all of the hospitals.
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