No good news forthcoming on Empire talks


That “quiet period” Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and East End Health Alliance negotiators imposed on themselves in August has been lifted, but that’s not necessarily good news, Alliance spokesman Robert Chaloner said Tuesday. 


Mr. Chaloner, Southampton Hospital president and CEO, said, “We still have a long way to go,” but he did not offer any specifics about where the two sides are in their negotiations.


Empire spokesman Craig Andrews took a harder line, maintaining that the alliance hasn’t moved from its original request that the insurer says would have resulted in more than a 60 percent increase in reimbursements to alliance hospitals — Peconic Bay Medical Center, Eastern Long Island Hospital and Southampton Hospital.


To agree to such increases would force hikes in premiums “already driven by high medical costs on Eastern Long Island,” Mr. Andrews said.


Despite the impasse, Mr. Chaloner said he’s “upbeat” about the ongoing talks.


“Both sides really want to get this resolved,” he said. “I’m the eternal optimist.”


Both sides have made “some movement, but not much” toward a new contract, he said. The situation has been helped, Mr. Chaloner said, by the fact that New York State Insurance Department officials and 1st District State Senator Kenneth LaValle got involved in the talks.


“They’re all acting as honest brokers with us in trying to get this resolved,” he said. With Senator LaValle, a Republican, calling on Senator Neil Breslin, an Albany Democrat and head of the Senate’s insurance committee, to convene hearings in November, “It gives us all a deadline,” Mr. Chaloner said. Even if there were a settlement, the hearings could still go forward because Mr. LaValle wants to prevent such lengthy deadlocks in the future.


Empire did settle with seniors covered by MediBlue, but other Empire patients have been “out of network,” except for emergency services, since August 1. Shelter Island town employees can use the local hospitals with pre-approval.


Although a few East End doctors have walked away from the Empire network, “Most are still waiting to see what happens,” Mr. Chaloner said.