MI insurer could cut ties to 2 hospital systems

JACKSON, Miss. — Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi has told the state's second-largest hospital owner that it will end its contract with the company's 10 Mississippi hospitals at the end of August. The insurer sent the termination notice to Health Management Associates hospitals statewide on June 25. Naples, Fla.-based HMA had sued Blue Cross for $13 million a week earlier, claiming the Flowood, Miss., insurer is breaking contract terms by underpaying for a number of procedures. At the same time, Blue Cross and Jackson's University of Mississippi Medical Center continue talks over payment rates, with the chance that the insurer will no longer contract for treatment at the state's largest hospital.