Crozer-Keystone contract dispute settled

    Just hours before its contract was set to expire, Delaware County’s Crozer-Keystone Health System has reached an agreement that will allow Medicaid recipients to keep getting care from Crozer-Keystone doctors and hospitals.

    Just hours before its contract was set to expire, Delaware County’s Crozer-Keystone Health System has reached an agreement that will allow Medicaid recipients to keep getting care from Crozer-Keystone doctors and hospitals.

    The contract dispute is over now, but the hospital system and the Keystone Mercy Health Plan were set to sever ties May 1st.

    Laval Miller-Wilson leads the Pennsylvania Health Law Project.

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    Miller-Wilson: We are pleased that the parties reached an agreement, but there’s a still massive amount of disruption from consumers receiving notices that they had to change providers. They had a choice of choosing a new provider, some did, and thousands were auto-assigned to new providers.

    About 26-thousand health plan members have used a Crozer doctor or hospital in the last year.

    The insurance company and health system have been trying to negotiate a new contract for 18 months, and both sides have blamed the rising cost of health care.

    In a written statement, hospital officials say Crozer-Keystone is absorbing a 9-million dollar reduction in its reimbursement rates.

    Health access advocates have been pressuring the hospital and health plan for months and had planned a Monday rally to protest the change.

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