photo by: LMH Health

LMH Health, 325 Maine St., is pictured in May 2021.

Story updated at 6:18 p.m. Monday:

The worrying can end for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas patients who feared they would have to start paying more expensive, out-of-network rates to receive care at LMH Health in 2022.

LMH Health — Lawrence’s only hospital — and BCBS of Kansas — the state’s largest health insurance company — reached a three-year agreement Monday to keep the hospital and its group of doctor’s offices and clinics in the BCBS of Kansas network.

While the worrying may be done, the wondering may continue. Despite the contentious negotiations becoming very public in recent weeks, both LMH and BCBS of Kansas declined to release any financial terms of the deal.

In other words, the public does not have information about how much more the hospital is expected to receive in payments from BCBS of Kansas as a result of the hardball negotiations. That may leave some area residents wondering if the nonprofit hospital got enough to secure its financial future, as leaders had said the BCBS of Kansas contract was critical to the future success of LMH.

“I think the confidence piece that people really want to know is that the two parties came to an agreement that they both felt like was fair to their organizations and the patients we serve,” Russ Johnson, president and CEO of LMH Health, said in an interview.

The Journal-World specifically asked for details on how much LMH Health expects to receive from BCBS of Kansas in 2022 versus what it is scheduled to receive this year and what it did receive in prior years. Both parties, though, declined to provide details on that part of the agreement.

“I don’t know that we want to get into the specific dollar amounts because I don’t think that would be fair to either organization,” Matt All, president and CEO of BCBS of Kansas, said in an interview. “We certainly understood that they have needs that have grown through the pandemic and that they are in a specific market that puts them under pressures that may not have existed even a few years ago. We want to be a good partner.”

The negotiations have been a top-of-mind issue for likely thousands of households in Douglas County ever since LMH leaders on Oct. 20 publicly expressed concern that LMH Health may not be part of the BCBS of Kansas network in 2022.

BCBS of Kansas is the dominant provider of health insurance for state of Kansas and University of Kansas employees. The stalled negotiations occurred during the open enrollment period for state and university employees, meaning employees had to decide whether to keep their longtime BCBS of Kansas policies and hope that LMH would be part of the network, or choose to switch their plan to another provider offered by the state. Originally, the deadline for enrollment was Oct. 31, but the state eventually pushed the deadline to Friday, Nov. 5.

Both parties on Monday were touting that health care consumers can sign up with confidence that LMH and BCBS of Kansas are going to be together for the long term.

“The contract term is for three years, but I think we are both announcing to our constituents that we feel like it really lays the groundwork for years to come,” Johnson said.

The two parties also announced that they will form a new alliance aimed at addressing several health care issues that go beyond the standard hospital-insurance provider relationship. Those include jointly examining the social determinants of health, problems related to health care equity, and a greater emphasis on behavioral health.

LMH and BCBS of Kansas have agreed to meet regularly on those issues, and both envision that they’ll communicate new ideas on how the hospital can reach certain consumers and how the insurance company can help provide coverage for those types of new services.

During the negotiations, BCBS of Kansas had expressed concern that the rates LMH was asking for were a dramatic increase that would greatly add to the cost of health care for Douglas County residents. All did not provide specific details on how the deal might impact premiums paid by local BCBS of Kansas customers, but he expressed confidence the deal would allow BCBS of Kansas to “provide an affordable product.”

But he also said it was important for BCBS of Kansas to work to contain costs and he felt the company has a good partner in LMH with the new deal.

“There are so many things about health care that need to change,” All said. “It is still too confusing. It is too expensive. It is aggravating for a lot of people, and we’ve got to make it easier and more affordable. And it really has to happen at the local level.”