Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia signed a three-year contract April 20, three days after announcing a handshake agreement.
Here are three things to know about the deal.
1. The new agreement will allow Anthem BCBS members to seek treatment from Piedmont physicians and at the system's facilities at in-network rates through 2021. It also considers visits and services delivered since the parties' April 1 contract lapse as in network.
2. Piedmont will begin calling patients, especially those who canceled appointments for hospital-based services because of the dispute, to notify them of the change. Piedmont encourages all patients who canceled or delayed care during the lapsed contract to reschedule with their Piedmont physician.
3. The pen and paper agreement comes after Republican Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal threatened executive actions if the two sides didn't reach an agreement by April 17. Piedmont and Anthem BCBS shook hands on an agreement that same day.