Northern Light Health is terminating contract talks with Anthem, two months after declaring that talks had reached a standstill.
Northern Light accuses Anthem of employing delay tactics instead of having productive conversations in a letter to the insurance firm.
“Despite our repeated attempts to engage in timely and productive discussions, we have encountered delayed responses to our proposals and experienced canceled meetings initiated by your team,” the letter reads.
Chief financial officer James Rohrbaugh stated over the phone that Anthem had not yet responded to Northern Light’s counteroffer, which was made more than two weeks ago.
“And in fact this week in following up, shared with us that they didn’t plan to send another offer,” he stated.
Anthem has also lowered interim payments for services rendered throughout the course of discussions, according to Rohrbaugh.
Although the health care system is looking to increase costs by 30% over the next three years, Anthem spokesperson Jim Turner says the business is still dedicated to working with Northern Light.
“We want to fairly compensate Northern Light based, in part, on important health care quality measures,” he continues. We are concerned about Northern Light’s request that we remove all quality-related remuneration from our next contract.
Northern Light denies that it wants to raise prices by 30%. Additionally, officials note that Elevance Health, Anthem’s parent business, recorded about $6 billion in profits the previous year.
Northern Light will be out of network with Anthem beginning in October for physician practices and hospital-based services, as well as all Anthem Medicare Advantage Plans, by the end of the year if the two businesses don’t return to the negotiating table.
