In an attempt to quell an extended dispute with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the president and CEO of Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark has penned an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, saying his company "wants a multiyear contract" with the healthcare giant.
William Winkenwerder Jr. said he penned the op-ed after UPMC's board of directors voted to reject talks to extend the system's current contract with Highmark beyond the end of 2014 or to enter into a new agreement.
"UPMC has also launched a public campaign to try to persuade the community that severing its relationship with Highmark Health and disrupting continuity of patient care for millions of western Pennsylvanians would somehow be good for the community," he wrote. "It is a claim that rings hollow despite its repetition."
Last May, the payer and health system reached an agreement to provide Highmark customers with in-network access to all UPMC providers until 2015 — extending the 2013 deadline of their previous agreement. The agreement followed a one-year hiatus in negotiations between the organizations after talks broke down.
A large factor in those tense talks was Highmark's plans to acquire West Penn Allegheny Health System, a local competitor to UPMC. Highmark officially acquired West Penn in late April and renamed the system Allegheny Health Network.
The payer and health system have continued to be at odds since, over contracts as well as legal affairs. A few weeks ago, UPMC filed a court motion, demanding Highmark withdraw a 2009 antitrust lawsuit against the health system filed by West Penn. The lawsuit accused UPMC of using its market dominance to suffocate West Penn.
Although Mr. Winkenwerder's op-ed presented a willingness to cooperate with UPMC, it was not void of criticism. "UPMC professes to support competition, but it really wants cartel-like competition without choice, where it, not the market, controls how, where and to whom care is delivered," he wrote. "Healthcare should not be a financially driven winner-take-all-game for institutions, especially those that claim to be charitable in purpose."
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