Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter's Health Partners and Albany-based Capital District Physicians' Health Plan launched opposing websites to reveal a contract spat over provider payments, reports Times Union.
St. Peter's first notified patients about the contract dispute a week ago on a website called "Stay With St. Peter's Health Partners." The provider recommended patients switch insurers to sustain covered care should the contract with CDPHP dissolve, as "the payments we receive from CDPHP are well below what we need to continue providing affordable, high-quality care in a sustainable manner."
CDPHP parried St. Peter's message with a website of its own, called "Say No to Trinity," referencing the provider's parent company, Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health. CDPHP wrote that by leveraging "their market power — and doing the bidding for their corporate parent — SPHP is damaging our community by trying to extract millions of hard-earned dollars from Capital Region consumers, all to prop up Trinity Health, which is under significant financial distress," according to the report.
A St. Peter's spokesperson told Times Union Trinity does not have a hand in the agreement dispute. Spokespersons from each organization remain hopeful for a resolution.
Should the contract falter, CDPHP would no longer network with St. Peter's five hospitals, 350 physicians and other services, while St. Peter's faces losing 448,000 CDPHP policyholders.