Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

NP here.

I agree.

About 15 years ago, Children's Hospital in DC announced they were no longer going to participate with CareFirst. It was resolved in advance of the termination date.

report

09/08/2022 18:27

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

I doubt we’re getting an accurate story here. Likely some Hopkins-affiliated doctor is threatening to stop being a preferred provider, and wrong a vague email intentionally suggesting Hopkins as a whole was pulling out. That’s not realistic. BCBS is too big, and most of the other private insurance companies don’t reimburse any better.

I have no pity for Hopkins, though. Ever try to transfer a patient there? They won’t tell you whether they have beds until you tell them what insurance the patient has. Funny how they almost always have beds when I have a BCBS patient but they never have beds when I have a Medicaid patient. And their doctors are horrible to work with. UMMC and Georgetown are much better to work with.

report

09/08/2022 18:31

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:I doubt we’re getting an accurate story here. Likely some Hopkins-affiliated doctor is threatening to stop being a preferred provider, and wrong a vague email intentionally suggesting Hopkins as a whole was pulling out. That’s not realistic. BCBS is too big, and most of the other private insurance companies don’t reimburse any better.

I have no pity for Hopkins, though. Ever try to transfer a patient there? They won’t tell you whether they have beds until you tell them what insurance the patient has. Funny how they almost always have beds when I have a BCBS patient but they never have beds when I have a Medicaid patient. And their doctors are horrible to work with. UMMC and Georgetown are much better to work with.

Ummm no. Do you realize who sent the email?

Read the post with the email and look up who sent it.

This is huge news and a very bad loss for carefirst holders.

report

09/08/2022 18:53

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt we’re getting an accurate story here. Likely some Hopkins-affiliated doctor is threatening to stop being a preferred provider, and wrong a vague email intentionally suggesting Hopkins as a whole was pulling out. That’s not realistic. BCBS is too big, and most of the other private insurance companies don’t reimburse any better.

I have no pity for Hopkins, though. Ever try to transfer a patient there? They won’t tell you whether they have beds until you tell them what insurance the patient has. Funny how they almost always have beds when I have a BCBS patient but they never have beds when I have a Medicaid patient. And their doctors are horrible to work with. UMMC and Georgetown are much better to work with.

Ummm no. Do you realize who sent the email?

Read the post with the email and look up who sent it.

This is huge news and a very bad loss for carefirst holders.

That sounds like a pretty standard letter that a lot of systems and providers send out when preferred provider agreements are being renegotiated. Is it sleazy for Hopkins to do that? Sure. But they’re not the only ones that send those out.

Plenty of other doctors and hospitals around if they somehow went through with their threat. Though again, that’s exceedingly unlikely.

report

09/08/2022 18:58

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

I just got the email too.. i am a county government employee and have Carefirst. They said they MAY leave the network December 5. It is designed to create an uproar among covered lives. And they want us to contact our HR I am sure.

I just ran into a Hopkins nurse at school and he said it will never happen. Carefirst covers more than half their business.

report

09/08/2022 19:33

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCBS in this area is too big especially with the Fed option for Hopkins to drop them. They literally can't survive without it. This is to help negotiate their rates. This is like when you get a warning that your TV provider is dropping ESPN. In the end they figure it out.

They shouldn’t be playing games like this.

Yes but Hopkins has bought a lot of hospitals and various medical centers all around here, even if they’re not called “Hopkins”. It’s a fight.

report

09/08/2022 19:37

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More and more and more PCPs don't even take insurance anymore. This is getting ridiculous.

You can't even see a doc these days for primary care. They are either a) booked full or b) don't even take your insurance.

You are forced now to pay out the ass for concierge care style in order to see a real MD for primary care. Primary care and preventative medicine will now only be accessible for rich people who can afford multiple thousand dollar memberships per year to these pricey models.

F this country.

My family in other major cities have no problems finding pcps who take insurance, or even psychiatrists (not a single one in dc does). THE DIFFERENCE? Here providers can demand you pay out of pocket because people want the extra attention and have the resources. Doctors in Buffalo or Pittsburgh somehow manage to thrive without going concierge.

Insurance companies suck, but doctors are to blame as well. I am not a fan of Amazon, but I hope they put one medicals all over the place so these concierge practices are forced to open up to more people…not just the rich.

Insurance companies make doctor's lives miserable. Increased documentation, prior authorizations for medications that patients need, and hours of uncompensated work. Many many medical students are choosing to forgo primary care for these reasons leading to a shortage. The primary care docs want fewer patients and more time with patients- this can only be accomplished these days by having smaller panels, going very part time, or going to a non insurance/ cash based practice. I assure you that most ppl in primary care aren't in it to be greedy or for the money because if they were, they would not have picked primary care. Expect for primary care to become increasingly fragmented with more turnover and midlevels. I agree the rich will have access to premium primary care services if they can afford cash based practices.

This is so true. My DH is a family practice doctor. Insurance companies are a nightmare.

report

09/08/2022 19:44

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:I just ran into a Hopkins nurse at school and he said it will never happen. Carefirst covers more than half their business.

This does not surprise me.

report

09/08/2022 19:56

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:It's only a specific one, isn't it? There are lots of different Carefirsts.

There is only one CareFirst, but a lot of BCBS plans, like one for each state (slightly less).

report

09/08/2022 20:00

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:does this include the federal plans?

that is a huge cross section in this area with the federal government being a significant employer and hopkins being a significant provider.

You would think they wouldn't want to drop all federal workers from being clients.

It wouldn't drop all federal workers from being clients. Feds have a ton of insurance plans to choose from.

--Fed who does not have CareFirst

report

09/08/2022 20:03

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:Maybe we should merge back in with England and use their health care system.

I hate our health care system so much.

We should have universal health care or Medicare for all. Insurance industry is fat in the middle we can't afford. And I speak as somebody who works for CareFirst. It is a not an efficient machine.

report

09/08/2022 20:06

Subject: Hopkins is dropping CareFirst

quote

Anonymous