Children's Minnesota, BCBS feud persists as deadline looms

Contract negotiations between Minneapolis-based Children's Minnesota and Eagan-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota continue to stall ahead of the parties' July 5 deadline, Kare 11 reports.

Here are four things to know.

1. Children's Minnesota terminated its contract with BCBSM March 8 after six months of failed negotiations over Medicaid reimbursements. Children's claims BCBSM is requesting a 31 percent cut to Medicaid reimbursements, but the payer said the number is incorrect, and it is proposing less than half of that, according to the report.

2. Children's predicts if negotiations fail, 66,000 BCBSM patients will go out of network with the hospital.

3. Children's sent the payer a list of roughly 3,700 BCBSM patients with complex medical conditions seeking continued in-network care after the July 5 deadline. The payer has approved uninterrupted care for eligible patients, the report states.

4. Other affected patients will be able to access in-network care at Minneapolis-based U of M Children's Masonic Hospital, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Children's Center, St. Paul, Minn.-based Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, Fargo, N.D.-based Sanford Children's Hospital and Shriners Hospitals for Children-Twin Cities (Minn.). 

Editor's note: This article was updated on June 28.

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