Aetna, Barnabas reach a deal

HUDSON COUNTY -€“ The health insurer Aetna and Barnabas Health, New Jersey’€™s largest health care provider, announced Thursday they have reached a new, two-year contract, effective March 1, averting any disruption for Aetna members who use the Barnabas system, according to a story in NJBIZ.com.
The only Barnabas hospital that is not part of this new Aetna deal is Jersey City Medical Center, which Barnabas acquired on June 1, 2014. Barnabas spokeswoman Ellen Greene said Jersey City Medical Center is expected to become part of the Aetna network in June 2015.
Earlier this month, as negotiations came down to the wire, Aetna started notifying New Jersey customers that they would need to find new health care providers if the two sides couldn’€™t reach an agreement before the current contract expired March 1. Aetna said about 18,000 of its New Jersey members receive health care from Barnabas.
Thursday’€™s announcement said Aetna members who use Barnabas Health hospitals and facilities, or receive care from physicians of the Barnabas Health Medical Group, will continue to be covered at the in-network level of benefits.
It’s not unusual for contract talks between hospitals and insurers to hit a snag.
New Jersey’€™s largest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, announced earlier this month that Christ Hospital in Jersey City, part of CarePoint Health, had terminated its relationship with Horizon and would exit the insurer’s network June 1. However, top executives of Christ and Horizon said they hoped to reach a deal before the current contract expires May 31.
CarePoint spokesman Jarrod Bernstein said Thursday that “we are hopeful we are come to a resolution before the deadline.”€ He said CarePoint’€™s two other Hudson County hospitals, Bayonne Medical Center and Hoboken University Medical Center, will remain in-network with Horizon “regardless of the outcome of the negotiations’ between Christ Hospital and Horizon.
The new agreement with Barnabas applies to all Aetna health plan products, including Student Health and Medicare.