UPMC refuses to negotiate new contract with Highmark
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UPMC will not negotiate a new contract with Highmark, the health system's chief legal officer said Wednesday.
UPMC's W. Thomas McGough Jr. told members of Allegheny County Council that the only issue the hospital system would discuss with Highmark was the best way to dissolve their relationship.
"This is not a negotiating ploy," Mr. McGough said.
The current contract between the region's largest health insurer and the largest hospital system expires on June 30, 2012.
Mr. McGough's answer clearly disappointed several members of council.
"I think you should lock yourselves in a room and talk," council Vice President Charles Martoni told Mr. McGough and Dan O'Malley, Highmark's western region market president.
Mr. Martoni and other council members said they were getting a flood of phone calls, emails and visits from constituents worried about which doctors they could see and which hospitals they could use if UPMC and Highmark end their relationship.
Mr. McGough said University of Pittsburgh Medical Center facilities, including the Hillman Cancer Center and Magee-Womens Hospital, would remain open to patients with Highmark insurance.
Lack of a new reimbursement agreement, however, would make treatment at UPMC facilities "out of network" for Highmark customers. That situation likely would result in treatment charges doubling or tripling, Mr. O'Malley warned.
UPMC's unalterable decision to not sign a new contract with Highmark means that Highmark customers should consider signing up with another insurance company if they "want to ensure unfettered, in-network access to UPMC doctors or physicians," Mr. McGough said.
The expiration of the agreement between Highmark and UPMC would affect only people with private insurance. People covered by Medicare and Medicaid would continue to have full access to UPMC facilities and doctors.
Mr. O'Malley said Highmark was willing to continue talks with UPMC toward reaching a new contract that would continue to offer choice and competition to Allegheny County residents. "The region needs multiple, viable health-care delivery systems," he said.
UPMC ended contract talks this spring after reports surfaced that Highmark planned to acquire the troubled West Penn Allegheny Health System, UPMC's largest local competitor.
First Published August 4, 2011 12:00 am
