Northern Light Health and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield did not reach an agreement on a new contract before mediation talks ended Tuesday ahead of a midnight deadline.
As of Wednesday, “Northern Light Health physicians and medical providers are no longer in network for Anthem commercial insurance plans,” Suzanne Spruce, a spokesperson for Northern Light Health, said in a statement Tuesday night.
Anthem has about 30,000 patients in the Northern Light network, which includes Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and Mercy Hospital in Portland.
Northern Light is committed to working toward a new contract, Spruce said. However, it is unclear when negotiations might resume.
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As talks were ongoing on Tuesday, Jim Turner, an Anthem spokesperson, said that “we have asked (Northern Light) to extend our current contract beyond Sept. 30 to avoid care disruption for members while we continue to negotiate. We await their response.”
Turner said he could not immediately provide an update on Anthem’s position when contacted by a reporter after talks stalled Tuesday night.
“Anthem has not given us any reason to believe that an extension of the contract at this time would be in the interest of our patients,” said Spruce, the Northern Light spokesperson.
Northern Light had said that if talks stalled physicians and some services would be out-of-network starting Wednesday, while hospital-based services would be out-of-network starting Dec. 31.
Under most insurance plans, patients pay higher out-of-pocket costs if services are out-of-network.
The negotiations center on how much Anthem would pay Northern Light’s health care providers for services. Anthem officials said last week that Northern Light had asked for a 30% rate increase, which hospital officials said was not true.
Negotiations have started and been called off a few times since August, as negotiations have increasingly become more intense, and the dispute spilling out into the media.
Northern Light, Anthem contract talks stall ahead of midnight deadline
