Report Insurer Attempts to Cancel Contracts and/or Lower Reimbursement
Please forward any insurer communications threatening to cancel your contract unless you or your practice lower your contracted rates to American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Senior Director of Economics and Health Policy Katie Keysor (kkeysor@acr.org).
There is no need to redact price or fee information before forwarding the communications to Ms. Keysor. ACR will maintain that data in a secure repository and would use the data strictly to advocate with lawmakers and regulators for continued access to quality patient care.
When demanding such concessions, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee conveyed that the No Surprises Act – which prohibits balance billing for out-of-network (OON) care – prompted them to take this action.
Many practices — already reeling from the economic impact of COVID-19 — can’t withstand this insurer profit grab and may be dropped from network. These insurer-caused restrictions strip patients of access to their chosen providers and may delay diagnosis and treatment of illness and injury.
These insurer actions impact all care (not just OON) – including cancer screenings, which plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic and may yet lead to increased cancer deaths.
There is no evidence that insurers use profit increases, obtained at patient and provider expense, to lower beneficiary costs. In fact:
- Medical imaging costs are down significantly in recent years, including in 2020.
- Insurance premiums continue to rise — along with insurance company revenue.
- Health insurers’ net incomes and profit margins have grown every year since 2015, including record profits in 2020, even as their costs dropped.
The ACR is gathering information to bolster efforts to fight this insurer overreach. The College’s actions do not impact patient protections in the No Surprises Act.
For more information, please visit the ACR “Surprise” Billing and “No Surprises” Act Implementation page.