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For Immediate
Release
8/4/11
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Hearing on UPMC-Highmark Dispute Set for Sept. 13
Banking and Insurance Committee to meet at Penn State
Campus in McKeesport
Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Chairman Senator Don White today
announced his committee will hold a public hearing in McKeesport in September on
the on-going dispute between UPMC and Highmark.
The committee will convene at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13,
in the Ostermayer Room of the Student Community Center at the
Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus, 4000 University Drive, McKeesport, to
review the dispute and determine what, if any, regulatory role Pennsylvania has
over the battling parties.
"The hearing in McKeesport will be the first of what I expect to be a series
of Banking and Insurance Committee hearings on this issue," Senator White said.
"The disagreement between Highmark and UPMC, if left unresolved, could have a
major impact on the region on several levels. It is important that we provide an
open forum in which legislators and the public can achieve a better
understanding of the various issues on the table."
Highmark and UPMC have been at odds over their service reimbursement contract
which is set to expire on June 30, 2012. If the contract is not renewed, about
2,700 doctors in the UPMC system would be considered "out-of-network" for
Highmark, which provides insurance coverage for about 3 million people in
western Pennsylvania. Tension between the parties further escalated when
Highmark announced plans to invest in West Penn Allegheny Health System --
UPMC’s primary competitor in the region -- and filed a lawsuit against UPMC’s
"Keep Your Doctor" ad campaign.
The two main issues to be discussed during the hearings are distinctly
separate from a regulatory perspective, but intimately related, Senator White
said. "I expect the hearings will explore both the contractual impasse between
UPMC and Highmark as well as Highmark’s proposed acquisition of the West Penn
Health System."
State Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine will be the leading regulatory
official to testify at the McKeesport hearing.
CONTACT:
Joe Pittman
(724) 357-0151
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