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Health organization Children's Minnesota is no longer an "in-network" provider for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota members who are covered through employer-provided or individually purchased Blue Cross health insurance plans or the Blue Cross Blue Plus PMAP program.
Following the termination of the contract, Blue Cross members no longer have insurance coverage for most services provided at Children's facilities, including the Minneapolis and St. Paul hospitals, Special Care Nursery in Coon Rapids, 12 primary care clinics, all specialty clinics, six rehab sites in the Twin Cities and the Minnetonka Ambulatory Surgical Center and home care services.
According to the statement, both parties were unable to come to an agreement after months of negotiations.
Children's Minnesota claims that Blue Cross triggered this by demanding a 31 percent cut to Medicaid reimbursement and threatening the organisation with no future inflationary rate increases for care to those with private insurance.
It further stated that accepting Blue Cross' cut would have put the organization at risk and jeopardized its ability to sustain vital services and programs that provide critical pediatric care to children in the region.
"Blue Cross gave Children's an impossible ultimatum, knowingly threatening our ability to care for the kids and families that rely on us every day and the vitality of our organization," said Bob Bonar, CEO at Children's Minnesota. "We're disappointed that Blue Cross has been unwilling to find common ground given the scale and scope of vital pediatric services that we provide in this community."
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Children's Minnesota, Health insurance, US
