Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health System and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina resumed talks more than a month after their contract expired, a BCBS spokesperson told 13 WLOS.
"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Mission Health have entered into discussions regarding a future network participation agreement and will refrain from public comment until those talks are completed," the spokesperson said Monday.
BCBSNC members lost in-network access to nearly all Mission Health physicians and facilities Oct. 5. A public fight over reimbursement rates surfaced July 5 when Mission Health said it would terminate its contract with BCBSNC. If negotiations are back on, it could be the first time Mission Health and BCBSNC negotiated in the past four months, according to the report.
Rowena Buffett Timms, senior vice president of government and community relations at Mission Health, told 13 WLOS, "We have previously said that we were not going to comment, and we continue to refrain from comment," on the possible negotiations.
In September, Mission Health President and CEO Ron Paulus, MD, predicted an agreement between the two parties would not come until 2018.
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