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By Jim Doyle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
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McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Dec. 28--Eleventh-hour contract talks have started between two Saint Louis area hospitals and a leading insurer who had been locked in an impasse, according to officials on both sides.
Representatives of St. Louis University Hospital and Des Peres Hospital as well as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri and HealthLink Inc., confirmed Tuesday that limited talks occurred last week.
So far, negotiators have failed to reach an agreement that may avert an end-of-the-year contract deadline. And the impasse may result in thousands of patients fleeing to other medical providers.
Both sides offered widely different accounts Tuesday of their recent talks, which were apparently held via phone calls, conference calls and emails, but not in person. They accused each other of undermining or walking away from the negotiations. And they could not agree on which offer or counter-offer is currently on or off the table -- or even if talks will likely move forward.
A spokeswoman for Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Dallas, which owns the two hospitals, said that WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis, which owns the two health insurance plans, had delivered an ultimatum in the form of a new, only slightly better contract proposal that the hospitals rejected last Friday.
"They've said, 'Take it or leave it,'" said Laura Keller, a spokeswoman for SLU Hospital. "They offered an increase that is so low it doesn't keep up with the increase in cost of taking care of patients."
But a spokesman for Anthem insisted that the negotiations were still ongoing -- and that the insurer is in fact examining an earlier offer from the hospitals.
"We are incredulous," said Deb Wiethop, an Anthem spokeswoman. "We're not aware that the negotiations are over. ... We received a proposal from Tenet on Dec. 19. We're going to look at it and get back to Tenet in January."
Wiethop acknowledged that the hospitals had rejected an offer last Friday from the insurer. "It's not a 'take it or leave it' proposal," she said.
The two hospitals announced in early December that -- because of a breakdown in talks -- they would cancel their managed care contracts with Anthem as well as HealthLink as of Jan. 1. This termination does not apply to SLUCare physicians.
Without the contracts, Anthem and HealthLink customers would pay significantly higher rates next year for out-of-network care at both of the hospitals. And if that occurs, it would no doubt drive away many patients who would ordinarily visit Des Peres Hospital or SLU Hospital to other competing St. Louis-area hospitals that accept WellPoint's health plans.
Under the existing contracts, the two hospitals' agreements with HealthLink patients will end on Dec. 31. However, patients covered by the Anthem contract will continue to receive care at 'in-network' rates until Feb. 22.
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