news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The news that Moses Cone Health System and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina are talking about a new contract came as a relief to some Guilford County residents and employers who have been worried by the organizations' two-month standoff.

"This is good," said Susan Wolf , practice administrator at Wendover OB-GYN and Infertility . "We hope this gets everything calmed down and that we're headed in the right direction." Almost half of the obstetric patients at Wendover OB-GYN are insured by Blue Cross.

For Blue Cross members, the right direction would be a new contract that allows them to continue to use Cone's facilities — Moses Cone Hospital, Wesley Long Community Hospital and The Women's Hospital in Greensboro and Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville — at lower, in-network prices.

In July, Cone announced that it planned to cancel its contract with Blue Cross, effective Nov. 1, because the two had been unable to agree on reimbursement rates — how much the insurer pays the hospital for treating its members. Blue Cross, the state's largest insurer , generates about 18 percent of the Cone system's revenue .

Without a contract in place, Blue Cross members would have to pay higher, out-of-network charges for treatment at Cone facilities or seek treatment at other area hospitals that have contracts with Blue Cross.

Blue Cross had said it would not negotiate as long as a cancellation notice was in effect. It said Friday that the Nov. 1 deadline was no longer in place .

That fact did not surprise Arnold Rogers of Greensboro, who is insured by Blue Cross through his wife's employer. He said he had thought all along that the standoff would not continue.

"I think Moses Cone was mainly blowing smoke to try to raise a little money for all the indigent care they provide," he said.

Dr. David Grove , who practices internal medicine and cardiology with Greensboro Medical Associates , also believed that the standoff would be resolved.

"Eventually they were going to talk," he said. "Eventually they were going to work something out, and if it leaves them both unhappy, then I think that probably would be the best compromise."

Grove said he thought Blue Cross was more at fault than Cone.

"My patients ask me about this," he said, "and I say you should be standing down there (in front of Blue Cross's Chapel Hill headquarters) with a sign in your hand."

RF Micro Devices , whose self-insurance plan is administered by Blue Cross, privately urged the two organizations for some time to agree on a new contract, said Ralph Knupp, the company's vice president for human resources.

The company plan covers about 6,000 employees and their family members, Knupp said.

"We think it's in everyone's best interests to be resolved," he said. "Both Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Moses Cone Health System play too critical a role in health care services in Guilford County for any other outcome," he said.

Contact Lex Alexander at 373-7088 or lalexander@news-record.com