BCBSNC, next move upto Babtist

As of Monday morning there had been no apparent move toward new contract talks between N.C. Baptist Hospital and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, though officials with both organizations said they were willing to sit down at the negotiating table again.



If, and when, that might happen, though, is unclear.



After negotiations over a new reimbursement contract stalled for more than a year, Baptist announced in March that it would cancel its contract effective June 4 with Blue Cross, the state's largest health insurance company.



Monday morning, Blue Cross and Blue Shield spokesman Mark Stinneford said the company was prepared to negotiate with N.C. Baptist to bring the hospital back into its network, just as it would negotiate with any health care provider who wanted into the network.



"We have to negotiate from a position of what would we pay comparable hospitals," he said. "It's a clean slate."



However, he said, Blue Cross expects Baptist to make the first move now to restart talks.



"The ball's in their court," Stinneford said. "They took the initiative to leave the network, so we'd expect them to take the initiative to rejoin if that's their desire."



Mark Wright, a spokesman for the hospital, said Baptist CEO Len B. Preslar Jr. sent a letter to the insurance company less than two weeks before the contract cancellation asking for a meeting with the company to restart negotiations this week, after the cancellation.



"We're doing everything we can to resolve this situation," Wright said.



In the meantime, both organizations have taken steps to help Blue Cross and Blue Shield members who might seek care at Baptist.