Doctors being dropped
Mountain State BCBS won’t cover Marietta physiciansBy Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.com
Marietta Memorial Hospital's contract with Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield has expired but patients using that insurance shouldn't notice a change, hospital officials say.
"As far as we can tell at this point, this should have no significant impact," said Jennifer Offenberger, director of marketing and public relations for Marietta Memorial Hospital. "Mountain State is just a provider for West Virginia... it doesn't exclude people from getting their claims through the national Blue Cross Blue Shield program. They should not lose access or services because of this."
Offenberger said patients should still be able to see doctors that are part of Memorial's Marietta Health Care Physicians Inc. and use their existing insurance card.
"They're still part of the national plan so they can still use their card at the time of service, but where it gets billed will be different," she said. "The customer may never know a difference, though."
Less than 5 percent of the patients who use doctors who are part of Marietta Health Care Physicians use Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, Offenberger said. All the physicians' staff members are up to speed on the change, she said, and can be contacted for specific patient questions.
A call to Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield wasn't immediately returned Monday.
Offenberger said Marietta Memorial will continue to try to negotiate a new contract with Mountain State.
"It's unfortunate that we haven't been able to come to terms, but we'll continue to try to," she said.
