Updated at 11 a.m. with comments from Cigna.
It is a truth universally acknowledged聽that health insurance companies can be a pain for patients.聽What may be a surprise聽is that hospitals often complain,聽too. For the same reasons:聽Denied claims. Low reimbursement. Late reimbursement. Thickets of red tape.
Each year ReviveHealth, a hospital public relations firm in Santa Barbara, Calif.,聽asks hospitals to This year’s loser: WellPoint, which “managed to have some pretty intense negative opinion” in the regions where it does business, said Revive President聽Brandon Edwards. “That vaults them above — or I should say below — all the other health plans, even those that operate in all 50” states.
Insurers聽called the report聽unscientific and biased, pointing to the agency’s interest in聽cultivating hospital clients.
But not all insurers. Here’s Cigna spokesman Joe Mondy, via email: “Sorry to see some attacking the survey — 聽Cigna did quite well, so maybe it’s easy to say —聽but we view data from this and other ‘report cards’ (athenahealth, AMA) as very useful in identifying opportunities to improve聽and gaug[e] the impact of past improvement initiatives.”
( is Revive’s press release.) Edwards says the research was聽commissioned by Revive but performed by聽a third party — — which contacted every hospital system in the country and received responses from more than 400.
WellPoint ranked last in overall favorability聽and in the “dealing with hospitals” category. Cigna was No. 1 in overall favorability while Aetna scored best in聽the dealing with hospitals category.
“We believe the Revive survey is inherently flawed and without merit,” said WellPoint spokeswoman Jill Becher. “We have a long history of working with providers to improve the accessibility, affordability and effectiveness of quality health care.”
Rising from the basement in previous surveys was UnitedHealthcare, the country’s biggest private health insurer. United scored sixth out of seven in the dealing with hospitals category and fifth out of seven in overall favorability.
鈥淯nited certainly hasn’t moved to a point where people say, ‘It’s a great health plan for me to deal with,’ but it’s only fair to acknowledge that they’ve made some pretty big strides in improving their reputation in the provider community,” Edwards said.
Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans ranked worst in hospital payment聽rates for the second year in a row.
Dr. Allan M. Korn, chief medical officer for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, defended the Blues’ relations with hospitals and doctors.
“Revive is a PR firm that represents medical providers in payment negotiations with insurers and often creates a contentious public and media atmosphere around these talks,” he said through a spokeswoman.聽“This聽survey is merely another tactic aimed [at] boosting payments for Revive鈥檚 clients without regard to the impact this has on millions of Americans who want and deserve affordable聽health care.”
