A lawsuit filed by a Los Angeles community hospital alleges Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia is retaliating against the provider for being out-of-network by paying patients directly for emergency services.
Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital alleges in the lawsuit that the insurer is paying patients rather than the hospital as a way to pressure the hospital to accept its contract rates, or become “in-network.” The 131-bed hospital, which opened in 2015, alleges this payment system makes it difficult to get paid for providing services to the insurer’s members.
