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Highmark’s Medicare Advantage members could learn within several weeks whether UPMC doctors and hospitals will remain in their insurance coverage network. The state Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear arguments next month in a bitter feud over the federal program, granting an application from UPMC for speedier proceedings. The court set a 9 a.m. hearing for Oct. 6 ... Highmark Health and state officials are fighting a UPMC request to block in-network access for enrollees on the insurer’s Medicare Advantage plans starting Jan. 1. (Smeltz, 9/9)

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's request for an expedited appeal in UPMC's battle over Highmark's Medicare Advantage rates. UPMC is appealing a Commonwealth Court judge's order in May that says UPMC must maintain in-network rates until 2019 for people insured by Medicare Advantage plans sold through insurer Highmark. The judge also ordered the companies into arbitration over a state-mediated consent decree the parties signed last year. (9/9)