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Health|Insurer Reverses Policy That Would Have Limited Anesthesia Periods
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/health/blue-cross-blue-shield-anesthesia-anthem.html
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Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield officials had planned to roll out the changes nationwide but said they were misunderstood.
Dec. 5, 2024
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, a major health insurer, on Thursday rolled back a policy change that would have capped payments for anesthesia for patients, and would have denied claims altogether if any given procedure exceeded a time limit.
The policy, which was to be tested before a national rollout, prompted controversy — first from anesthesiologists and then, after a flurry of media reports, from legislators in Connecticut and New York, where the policy was to go into effect in February.
Anesthesiologists said that the change in reimbursement was unprecedented and would have overturned a formula standard since the 1990s.
“No other commercial health insurer, no government payer, Medicare or Medicaid, has ever done anything like this and come up with an arbitrary time limit for anesthesia services,” Dr. Don Arnold, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, said.
“Surgery and other procedures can take variable lengths of time,” he added. “Certainly procedures and techniques are standardized, but patient needs are unique and they require variable amounts of time, care and attention.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Outrageous. I’m going to make sure New Yorkers are protected.”
