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Battle Between Healthcare Giants In Western NC Leaves Patients In Limbo

Mission Hospital, Asheville, NC
Mission Health
/
Wikimedia Commons
Mission Health announced it would end contracts with BCBSNC after failed negotiations over reimbursement rates.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Mission Health are going head-to-head over the cost of services for patients in western North Carolina.

On July 5 Mission Health announced it would end contracts with BCBSNC after failed negotiations over reimbursement rates. BCBSNC has in turn accused Mission of being “among the most expensive” for many procedures. The BCBSNC-Mission contract is set to end on October 5. Mission Health is the largest healthcare provider in Buncombe County, and the negotiation stalemate has left thousands of western North Carolinians with little information about the future cost of care at their local hospitals.

Host Frank Stasio speaks with Blue Ridge Public Radio News Director Matt Bush about the latest.

Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.