With two weeks left before their current contract expires, Jacksonville’s largest health care system and insurance company appear no closer to reaching an agreement to keep patients in network.
Florida Blue and Baptist Health’s current contract ends Sept. 30. If negotiations are not successful, as many as 50,000 Florida Blue members in the region would then have to pay out-of-network costs for most but not all services at Baptist Health and its Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
The latest disagreement hinges on reimbursement for services at Wolfson Children’s.
Baptist and Florida Blue blame each other for the impasse.
Baptist alleges Florida Blue pays other health systems more than what it's proposing to pay Baptist.
“We will not put people in a situation where they don’t know what they owe out of pocket or receive surprise bills, because we simply do not have confidence that Florida Blue will treat us fairly or pay accurately. Out-of-network is not a solution for our patients or Baptist Health and Wolfson Children’s, even if that’s what Florida Blue seems to want at this point," Baptist said in a statement Friday.
