Methodist Le Bonheur announces deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare announced Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee regarding its employer-based and marketplace plans.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement after months of advocating for the best interests our patients,” said Michael Ugwueke, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to provide the safest and highest quality care in the Mid-South community for all we are privileged to serve.”
Agreements were reached in February on BlueCare Tennessee, TennCare Select, CoverKids and Dual Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) plans.
“We appreciate the patience and support of our members and group customers as we worked to reach a deal with Methodist Le Bonheur that lowers health care prices for our fellow Memphians,” said Kevin Woods, Memphis market president for Blue Cross, in a statement. “This disruption was unfortunate but necessary in order to bring meaningful savings to our members in the form of lower premiums. We also want to thank the rest of the health care community here in Memphis, especially our provider partners at Baptist Memorial Health Care, for their ongoing efforts to provide care to our members.”
Blue Cross said members who have questions about the new agreement may call the number on the back of their member ID for support.
In response to additional questions from The Commercial Appeal including if there were any outstanding issues and when contracts will be negotiated again, Methodist responded: "There are no outstanding issues. We have nothing else to add."
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee members have been out-of-network at Methodist facilities since Jan. 1 after the two sides failed to reach a deal before the contract expired. This applied to inpatient and outpatient care at Methodist facilities.
Blue Cross said the Methodist system charged higher rates than other facilities in the Memphis area and Le Bonheur, in particular, charged notably high rates.
Methodist, which has maintained its rates are fair and said it provides a significant level of free care locally, said Blue Cross asked the hospital system to slash rates by 40% and did not consider a counter-offer.
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Negotiations had seemed to be at something of a standstill with a lack of public updates since early February.
But in May, Dalya Qualls White, senior vice president and chief communications officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, said the two parties had exchanged proposals over the past two weeks and she was "optimistic we'll have an agreement soon."
News editor Corinne Kennedy contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Methodist Le Bonheur reach deal
