UofL Physicians Say They Won't Accept Cut in Insurance Payments

by Stephanie CrosbyAnother standoff between doctors and an insurance provider is brewing in Louisville. This time, the dispute involves Humana and the University of Louisville Physicians Group. Their current reimbursement contract ends July first.Humana informed the group it needs to cut the doctors’ reimbursement rate by ten-percent in the new contract. But the group says it can’t accept a reduction in payments and maintain a comparable rate to other academic medical centers, in order to be able to recruit new doctors.Dr. Gerard Rabalais says the two sides have been in negotiations, but the insurance company seems unwilling to budge.“Certainly there are contentious fights that occur between insurers and providers of care, whether they be hospital systems or organizations of physicians," sasy Rabalais. "The tone of these and the intensity of these are only escalating, not getting better.”Rabalais says if they are unable to reach an agreement, about twenty-percent of the group’s patients will be out of network.Humana says in a statement that it has not received a reimbursement proposal from the doctors group.There was a similar dispute over reimbursement rates last year between Anthem Insurance Co. and Norton Healthcare that was eventually resolved.