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From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— UW Health and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin have entered into a new contract after the organizations previously clashed over pricing negotiations.
The health system and insurer yesterday announced they’ve signed a new multi-year contract that will allow Anthem members to have “uninterrupted access” to care at UW Health locations. It covers all Anthem members covered by employer-based, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act Marketplace health plans, the release shows.
UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan says the new agreement will “provide long-term benefits” for patients, while Anthem Wisconsin President Paul Nobile says members will be able to keep seeing the doctors they trust. He also notes the agreement will provide “more stable, predictable health care costs” in the years to come.
“We believe Anthem members should always have access to high-quality, affordable health care, which is why both sides stayed committed to working out an agreement,” Nobile said.
The new contract comes after UW Health and Anthem announced in March a coverage agreement extension to allow for ongoing contract negotiations, as the previous contract was set to expire in April. The extension was set to run through July 1.
Earlier this year, UW Health had said the insurer’s offer was unfair and much lower than what was offered to other health systems in the state, and also said Anthem wanted to be able to change payment terms without negotiations. But Anthem at the time said UW Health had been requesting drastic price increases that far exceeded the inflation rate.
See yesterday’s release below and read more coverage on the earlier negotiations.
— Marshfield Medical Center is the first care provider in the state to perform an aerosol-based chemotherapy procedure, the hospital announced.
The center recently performed a pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy, or PIPAC, procedure, which is used to treat cancers that have spread inside the abdominal cavity. It involves introducing chemotherapy agents in the form of an aerosol directly into the affected area.
The hospital says the cancers being targeted this way are “notoriously difficult to treat,” and the new approach leads to a more uniform drug application and “potentially higher concentrations” at tumor sites with fewer side effects.
Dr. Rohit Sharma is a surgical oncologist at the center and the lead doctor for the procedure. He says the PIPAC procedure “significantly enhances” the center’s existing program focused on these types of cancer.
“It provides an additional therapeutic option for patients who may have exhausted other treatments or for whom traditional systemic chemotherapy is not well-tolerated,” Sharma said in a statement.
See the release below.
— Wisconsinites who undergo sex change procedures would be prohibited from changing the sex listed on their birth certificate, under a bill two Republicans are circulating.
The measure would also bar individuals or courts from changing the sex on a birth certificate to anything that doesn’t match someone’s “biological sex.” The bill defines “biological sex” as the state of being male or female based on sex chromosomes.
Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls, and Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, in a co-sponsorship memo said such requirements would “defend men and women against unjust discrimination,” “ensure equal access to employment, healthcare, education, and sports” and “provide the legal groundwork upon which single-sex spaces like women’s shelters, including shelters for victims of sexual assault or domestic violence, are built.”
Brill said the bill is “basic, common-sense legislation to ensure our birth certificates reflect reality, not ideology.”
The Legislature’s Transgender Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus, led by Sen. Melissa Ratcliff, D-Cottage Grove, and Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, strongly criticized the bill. They said it’s one in a string of GOP proposals that target transgender and nonbinary Wisconsinites.
The Assembly approved a series of bills last month that would restrict transgender and nonbinary people’s ability to play the sport that aligns with their gender identity, use their preferred pronouns at school and access transgender care.
Ratcliff, whose son is transgender, said the latest bill is “possibly unconstitutional, absolutely hateful, and 100% unnecessary.”
“You need legal documentation like a birth certificate to get a job, enroll in school, access health care,” Ratcliff said. “Making laws to prevent transgender people from modifying their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity is a pathetic attempt to disenfranchise them, punish them, and further marginalize them.”
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Press Releases
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