PROVIDENCE – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) and Care New England (CNE) have agreed to extend the nonprofit hospital system’s participation in the BCBSRI network through March 31.

The parties also pledged to continue their contract talks, and expressed hope they would reach a new agreement by Dec. 31. Details of their agreement were not disclosed, “by mutual agreement of the parties,” the companies said.

The health insurer’s four-year agreement with CNE had been set to expire at year’s end, potentially leaving Blue Cross subscribers with only out-of-network coverage for services from Women & Infants Hospital, Kent Hospital, Butler Hospital, the CNE Wellness Center or CNE Home Health. (READ MORE)

BSBSRI, the state’s largest insurer, accounts for about one-third of business at the hospital network. Their ongoing dispute concerns reimbursements rates paid to Care New England for services to Blue Cross subscribers.

“Insurers charge fundamentally the same premiums,” Care New England President John J. Hynes told Providence Business News last month, “but what Blue Cross reimburses the hospitals versus the other carriers is very different. … All we’re looking to see is that we get paid comparably for our services to what other insurers pay.”

BCBSRI President and CEO James E. Purcell countered that he doesn’t know how much other private insurers pay Care New England – but if it’s more, that’s all right, since Blue Cross is the local nonprofit insurer, covering by far the most people in the state.

Last week, R.I. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch had called on the governor to intervene in the dispute, to protect local Blue Cross subscribers against steep bills or interruptions in care. (READ MORE) Those fears were addressed by Purcell and Hynes in their joint statement last night: “We hope today’s announcement will calm concerns regarding this situation,” the BCBSRI and CNE chiefs said. “We see the extension as an important step toward reaching a new agreement that will enable CNE to remain in the BCBSRI network for the long term, which has been the goal from the very beginning.”

In one sense, CNE already has departed Blue Cross: This month, the hospital system switched from BCBSRI to Tufts Health Care for its own employee health care coverage. (READ MORE)

Care New England Health System is a nonprofit health care system, founded in 1996 by Butler Hospital, Kent Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital, that has grown to include Care New England Home Health and the Care New England Wellness Center. To learn more, visit www.CareNewEngland.org.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, based in Providence, covers more than 670,000 members. BCBSRI is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Additional information is available at www.bcbsri.com.