Piedmont, Georgia BCBS settle contract dispute after governor gets involved
One of the largest health systems in Atlanta and one of Georgia’s biggest insurers have settled a months-long dispute over a new contract after Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal threatened to take executive action to push the sides to negotiate.
Deal announced on April 17 that Piedmont Healthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia have a “handshake” agreement on a new contract. Their last deal expired April 1, which left Piedmont physicians and hospitals out-of-network for the insurer’s 2 million customers—about 500,000 of which had been to a Piedmont facility of provider within the past 18 months.
Georgia Health News reports the new deal will begin on June 1. In the interim period, the terms of the old contract will be honored, with Blue Cross members who utilized Piedmont hospitals or physicians in the week since it expired being charged in-network rates.
What action Gov. Deal could’ve taken was unclear. Among the possible options was opening a “re-enrollment” of state employees, as 570,000 have Blue Cross as their insurer. Georgia State University health insurance expert Bill Custer told Georgia Health News an agreement was “inevitable,” but Deal’s involvement “may have pushed them along.
Custer also expects future contract talks between insurers and hospitals to be similarly heated as consolidation continues on both sides.
“We’re seeing the exercise of market power,’’ Custer said. “Brinkmanship is often the way it goes.”
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.