JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The deadline for Florida Blue and Baptist Health to come to terms on a new contract agreement is fast approaching.
The parties are still undergoing contract negotiations, and if they can’t agree on an agreement before Oct. 1, Baptist Health will be considered out-of-network for some 600,000 Florida Blue customers across the region.
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Baptist Health released an update Friday on the ongoing battle with the insurance company.
According to Baptist Health, Florida Blue “made it clear” that it is not interested in negotiating but “requested a 30-day extension” to the current contract.
Baptist Health maintains that they’ve taken on too many costs with workforce shortages, record inflation, and rising costs of drugs and supplies all coming into play.
“We cannot see any wisdom in an extension given Florida Blue’s refusal to compromise, yet we remain ready to negotiate any time and any day for a fair agreement by the original deadline,” the hospital said in a statement.
Read the full statement from Baptist Health below:
For the past eight months, Baptist Health has consistently engaged in good-faith negotiations with Florida Blue. With just days left until our current contract expires at midnight on September 30th, we had expected a reasonable response to our most recent offer. Instead, today Florida Blue has made it clear that they are finished negotiating but in the next breath requested a 30-day extension to our current contract. We cannot see any wisdom in an extension given Florida Blue’s refusal to compromise, yet we remain ready to negotiate any time and any day for a fair agreement by the original deadline. We seek an agreement that ensures we can continue providing the vital services our community depends on, both now and in the future.
Baptist Health
Florida Blue countered Baptist Health’s latest statement by stating that the reason for the 30-day extension was to continue negotiating the contract.
The health insurance company said the latest offer it received from Baptist Health adds up to a 58% rate increase over the next five years, with annual increases that average nearly 10%.
Florida Blue said patients will be financially impacted if they agree to Baptist’s proposal.
“We have also offered to continue meeting with Baptist Health over the weekend to reach a resolution,” the insurer said in a statement Friday evening.
The hospital refused both offers, according to Florida Blue.
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Florida Blue also provided the following updates on the contractual negotiations.
The insurer said it asked for a separate agreement for Wolfson Children’s Hospital, but Baptist Health was “standing firm on its “$1 billion demand” and refused the offer that Florida Blue said was “exceptionally generous and would substantially increase reimbursement for care provided at Wolfson.”
Florida Blue said the hospital also made its “demands at a time when 91% of Jacksonville residents are concerned about rising health care costs,” according to a new Harris Poll survey.
The insurer also specified certain negotiating tactics that it believed would put Wolfson doctors and providers in an “impossible position” to choose to travel with patients who would no longer be able to receive local elective care under Baptist Health’s proposed contract or decline to provide them care, according to Florida Blue.
If members have questions about these possible network changes, they can call the number on the back of their membership card or visit a Florida Blue center in person for help.
For more information on what other major insurers Baptist Health accepts, click here.
Patients can also find answers to their questions at baptistjax.com/florida-blue and at floridablue.com/negotiation/baptisthealthjax.