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EXETER — Exeter Hospital has accepted Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's three-year contract proposal and is ready to move forward with signing a new agreement.
Hospital officials are hoping to sign a letter of agreement with the insurance provider but no time table for such action was set as of Friday morning.
The hospital's decision to accept Anthem's proposal came after a flurry of activity on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Mark Whitney, vice president of strategic planning for Exeter Hospital, said the hospital made one more offer to Anthem during the afternoon Thursday to close the gap on the third year of the contract.
He said the two parties were close on the first two years of the contract but the third year was a challenge.
Anthem rejected that offer, Whitney said.
“They didn't move off the proposal and came back and told us we had to respond by end of the day or they would take their offer off the table,” he said.
Whitney said the hospital then made one last plea Thursday with Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny for a 60-day extension to the contract but to no avail.
“At the end of the day, considering Anthem's threat of pulling their offer off the table and considering the fact we have so many patients who are concerned, the leadership team felt we needed to accept all of Anthem's reimbursement rate reduction proposals,” he said.
Hospital officials notified Anthem about their intentions to accept the proposal shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday. However, Anthem officials couldn't be reached for immediate comment Friday morning to confirm.
Hospital officials say the hospital made $10 million in concessions to meet Anthem's demand.
Whitney said this will have a negative impact on future investments in the community but wouldn't elaborate on where the hits might immediately be felt.
“It's going to be a challenge,” he said. “But right now our focus has to be on getting our patients back to their doctors.”
Whitney didn't have a count on how many patients the hospital has lost to other doctors as the process unfolded.
“We're going to be available to take those patients back once we have the letter of agreement signed,” he said. “We'd love to have them back but that's a personal choice for our patients.”