A three-year deal reached late Monday between Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Mount Sinai Health System will restore health insurance access to more than 20,000 Long Island patients and 90,000 New Yorkers, Anthem announced Tuesday.
The insurance carrier dispute had disrupted in-network health care for Mount Sinai patients since Jan. 1 and ended inpatient hospital coverage March 1.
The deal will restore coverage for patients seeing their Mount Sinai doctors at 17 Mount Sinai offices on Long Island and access to Mount Sinai hospitals, including in Oceanside and Manhattan. Mount Sinai officials said it will restore access immediately.
The agreement also includes access to Medicaid, Child Health Plus and Essential Plan coverage.
“We recognize this has been a challenging period for patients and providers and are pleased that Anthem beneficiaries will again have access to Mount Sinai’s world-class medical care,” Dr. Brendan G. Carr, chief executive officer of Mount Sinai Health System, said in a statement.
The original contract expired Jan. 1, limiting in-network insurance access to more than 9,000 Mount Sinai doctors under the insurance plan. A 90-day continuity of care clause that allowed some patients, including cancer patients, expired March 31, requiring patients to find inpatient doctors.
Anthem officials had argued Mount Sinai was seeking price increases exceeding the rate of inflation, while Mount Sinai officials said they are seeking a rate comparable or lower to other regional health providers.
Mount Sinai officials said it was also working to resolve old accounts and $450 million in unpaid claims Mount Sinai has said it is owed by Anthem.
Anthem said in a statement Tuesday that the new contract includes “responsible price increases that make cost trends more predictable over time.”
The agreement also includes “protections that help ensure hospital bills are accurate, care is delivered in the appropriate setting” and aligns health care costs “more closely with inflation and workers’ wages.”
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.