University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and insurance company Highmark have continued running negative attack advertisements against each other, and a task force formed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett seems to have withdrawn a request that the companies stop running the ads, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.
A couple of weeks ago, the task force — which is working to make sure consumers aren't misled by the ads — sent a letter to the companies' chief executives asking them to discontinue the negative ads until the task force could review them, according to the report. However, a task force spokeswoman told the Tribune-Review Thursday that the companies had not been told to stop running the ads, although the task force is reviewing them. Both UPMC and Highmark have said they don't believe their ads are negative or misleading, according to the report.
Earlier this year, UPMC filed a lawsuit asserting claims made in Highmark advertisements that UPMC will deny access to some patients after 2014 when a deal extending in-network access to UPMC facilities for Highmark customers is set to expire, are untrue. UPMC withdrew the suit this month in favor of working with the state's Consumer Protection Task Force to resolve the dispute.
Reimbursement contracts that give Highmark members in-network access to UPMC are set to expire at the end of 2014, and the two entities are competing for patients and insurance customers, according to the report.
UPMC won't renew its contracts with Highmark because the insurer runs a competing hospital system, Allegheny Health Network. Highmark has accused UPMC of monopolizing the market, according to the report. Executives from Allegheny Health Network have called on state lawmakers to pass legislation that requires large hospital systems to accept contracts with any willing insurer.
Additionally, Highmark and UPMC are also at a stand-off regarding reimbursements for chemotherapy infusion claims at Arnold Palmer Cancer Center, a joint venture with UPMC and Greensburg, Pa.-based Excela Health in Greensburg.
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