The University of Mississippi Medical Center and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi have resumed in-network coverage. A dispute began in late March as the medical center demanded higher reimbursement rates for the unique care they provide as a university hospital. But Blue Cross denied their original bid. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says 750 thousand BCBS enrollees were left without coverage at the medical center during the nine-month dispute.
Chaney says “It will mean a lot to those patients who need transplants. Instead of having to go to UAB, or Memphis, or to Texas or Baton Rouge to get a transplant, which we’ve had to send people there to save their life, they can get it done right in Mississippi.”
Chaney says this agreement will also ensure the state’s only children’s hospital can help treat cancer patients that have Blue Cross insurance. And his office is already working to introduce legislation that will protect consumers during any future disputes between providers and hospitals.
Beginning next year, under new federal regulations, insurance providers must post their reimbursement rates on the websites of state insurance commissioners. Commissioner Chaney says he expects a lot of pushback from providers, and says legislative mandates are the answer.
“Most of these issues are over money, but in the case of Blue Cross of Mississippi, they do a lot of contract work for other carriers of other states. And they reimburse at a lower rate than what those states reimburse. So in some shape, form or fashion, we are subsidizing policyholders and healthcare providers from those states on the backs of the policyholders in Mississippi that actually pay the rates.”
The announcement was released in a joint statement by Blue Cross and the medical center. Both parties declined to comment on the agreement.
