*This email is intended for producers in western Pennsylvania, central Pennsylvania, northeastern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
HIGHMARK AND UPMC AGREE TO 10-YEAR CONTRACT
Today, the Pennsylvania Attorney General announced that he has brokered a relationship between Highmark and UPMC. The organizations agreed to a 10-year contract offering full in-network access to Highmark members in certain health products that include UPMC in Pittsburgh and Erie.
While the contract terms and conditions between Highmark and UPMC will be finalized throughout the next few weeks, beginning July 1, 2019 all Highmark members will have full in-network access to UPMC, if their health plan product includes UPMC in their health care provider network.
We are firmly committed to our strategy of offering high performing networks. There are and will continue to be narrow network health plans that will have limited, in-network access to UPMC. For those members who need to utilize out-of-network emergency department rates, we were able to negotiate favorable rates that are substantially below out-of-network charges.
This news fulfills the promise to our community that we at Highmark Health have strived to achieve for the last five years: Choice in health care.
It’s important to remember that five years ago Highmark took bold steps to preserve health care choice in this region by investing more than $2 billion in the exceptional care and services provided by AHN in the Pittsburgh and Erie regions, including a nationally recognized cardiac team that boasts the #1 heart transplant program in the state and a top 10 program in the country; a cancer institute that collaborates with the world renowned Johns Hopkins cancer center to offer leading-edge innovation and cancer treatment capabilities; and a women’s health program that is setting new standards for the treatment of women with post-partum depression, among many other examples.
We are following a clear path to provide more health care choices in the community and to build a more effective and affordable community-based health care network in partnership with community hospitals and independent health care providers. Many of the major new facility investments that we have announced over the past 18 months will become operational this year, or shortly thereafter. And we continue to explore ways in which we can further enhance the quality and availability of our services in the community.
We look forward to strategizing with you to optimize the value of your health plan offerings for the coming year.
For your convenience, please review the Producer Talking Points for when in discussions with your clients.
Thank you. |
