HOUSTON — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and CommonSpirit Health -- the parent company of CHI St. Luke's, CHI St. Joseph and other hospitals -- are set to sever formal ties in December, a BCBSTX spokesman said.
"In terminating our contracts, CommonSpirit is not honoring agreements that kept its hospitals in our networks through 2021," the spokesman said, citing CommonSpirit's demands of "unreasonable rate increases."
CommonSpirit Health, however, said in a statement that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas "for years has reimbursed CHI St. Luke’s Health at rates far below those of other similar healthcare providers in the market."
Hospitals in the Houston area, including The Woodlands and Sugar Land, and across southeast Texas in places like Bryan and College Station, Lufkin, Pasadena, Livingston and Navasota, would be affected, according to the BCBSTX spokesman.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas said CommonSpirit Health will leave their networks on Dec. 16, 2020.
Impacted hospitals or surgery centers:
- St Joseph Regional Health Center (2801 Franciscan Dr, Bryan)
- Burleson St. Joseph Health Center (1101 Woodson Drive, Caldwell)
- CHI St. Joseph Health College Station Hospital (1604 Rock Prairie Rd, College Station)
- CHI St. Luke’s Health Baylor College Medicine Medical Center (6720 Bertner Avenue, Houston)
- St. Luke’s Hospital at The Vintage (20171 Chasewood Park Dr, Houston)
- Brazosport Regional Health System (100 Medical Drive, Lake Jackson)
- Memorial Medical Center Livingston (1717 Hwy 59 Bypass, Livingston)
- Memorial Medical Center of East Texas (1201 West Frank Avenue, Lufkin)
- Madison St. Joseph Health Center (100 W Cross Street, Madisonville)
- Grimes St. Joseph Health Center (210 South Judson Street, Navasota)
- St. Luke’s Patients Medical Center (4600 E Sam Houston Pkwy S, Pasadena)
- Memorial Medical Center San Augustine (511 Hospital Street, San Augustine)
- St. Luke’s Sugar Land Hospital (1317 Lake Pointe Pkwy, Sugar Land)
- St. Luke’s Lakeside Hospital LLC (17400 St Lukes Way, The Woodlands)
- St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital (17200 St Lukes Way, The Woodlands)
The following is a statement from Dr. T. Doug Lawson, CEO of CHI St. Luke’s Health, regarding the 180-day Notice and ongoing negotiations:
“It is unfortunate that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas has not been more willing to reimburse at levels that enable us to provide essential services. We were forced to issue the notice in an effort to motivate Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to agree to rates that enable us to preserve access and care to critical health services for the patients we serve throughout our region, especially as our community reels from the impact of COVID-19.
“Our sincerest hope - and our belief - is that we can work together to achieve a reasonable agreement to ensure access to essential services are available for patients and employers across the region.”
