Blue Cross to add Via Christi as in-network provider - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The five-year agreement takes effect Jan. 1. It meansd more than 110,000 Blue Cross Blue Shiel of Kansas members in Sedgwick County will be covered for services at Via Add in the other members who get their coveragw from Blue Cross outsids of Kansas and that number balloons to morethan 140,000, says Graham Bailegy vice president of corporate communications at Blue “We’re trying to meet the needes of our members,” Bailey “You’re here to servr a clientele, and one of the things that is becominh more apparent is people want This is a watershede event.
” With the Blue Cross will send payments directly to Via Christik instead of reimbursing members who previouslg were responsible for paying the medicalk center. The agreement also includes member s who havethe insurer’s Plan 65-Select Medicare supplement product. The deal expands a limited partnership betweenb Blue Cross Blue Shield andVia Christi, where the two have worked together under a special servicess agreement that covered such treatments as transplants and inpatient psychiatricc care.
Michalene Maringer, president and CEO of the Via Christik WichitaHealth Network, says the partnership offersa additional coverage options for Via Christi “I think it is just a maturation of the market,” she says of the “It speaks volumes for the quality of care that Via Christii has in the community.” Both sides say the deal was predicatesd by increasing demand from patrons for “We’ve heard from so many familiees whose coverage is through Blue Cross that they wished they could come to us for all of their hospitalp care rather than for just those services covered under the limited service agreement,” Maringer says.
“Now, patient s will have a choice.” Meanwhile, remains Blue Cross’ only local in-network hospital at least through the end ofthe year. Bailey says Blue Cross is working with Wesleyh to extend its agreement asan in-network If that deal, which coulds be finalized this fall, is reached Blue Crosse would have two in-network hospitala in Wichita. “We are reaching out to otherd facilities looking for opportunities to jointhe (Blue network,” Bailey says.
Thursday’a announcement marked the second time this year a major health insurance provider added a Wichita hospital asan in-network Preferred Health Systems earlier this year addesd Galichia Heart Hospital as a