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Anthem declines to rescind rate cuts

Anthem declines to rescind rate cuts

WASHINGTON - Anthem does not plan to rescind rate reductions of 11% to 60% for HME, AAHomecare reports.

The payer and its subsidiary, Amerigroup, implemented the cuts for its commercial and government plans in the 22 states it serves.

AAHomecare had asked Anthem to delay the cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic, making a direct appeal to President and CEO Gail Boudreaux that included the results of a supplier survey about the impact of the pandemic.

In a June 30 response, Anthem Vice President Leah Timmerman states that the cuts better align the insurer's rates to Medicare and state and local DME market dynamics.

Anthem "took into account feedback from participating providers to help ensure we had a third-party perspective on these rate adjustments,” she said. “These rate adjustments were planned over six months ago and contractual notices alerting our DME partners of these rate adjustments were sent out well before the COVID-19 health crisis.”

AAHomecare's payer relations team plans to provide additional analysis on how Anthem's cuts do not reflect the current DME market and have great potential to impact patient access to quality care, especially in light of rate increases and other relief CMS and other payers have put into place in response to the pandemic.

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