Unpaid docs owed millions
By DANA HERRA
dherra@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – A network of local physicians sent a letter to the state last week, threatening to leave the state employee insurance network unless Illinois ponies up millions of dollars owed on employee insurance claims.
The Kishwaukee Health Network includes nearly 150 physicians and Kishwaukee Community Hospital. According to the letter, none of the providers have been paid for seeing state employees in the past 10 months, and some have outstanding claims dating back to August 2008.
“It was an attempt on behalf of the health care providers in northern DeKalb County to raise their voice and express their frustration and concern over the lack of payments for state employees,” Joe Dant, vice president of business development at the hospital, said of the letter.
To download the letter, click here.
According to the letter, the hospital alone is owed more than $3.4 million, while solo practitioners are owed between $4,000 and $10,000 each.
Northern Illinois University Vice President of Administration and Human Resources Steve Cunningham said about 3,400 NIU employees use the insurance program. The state is also at least seven months behind on a program that reimburses employees for some medical claims, he said, so employees understand the providers’ predicament.
“It’s a severe crisis for those employees and for the medical care community that cares for them,” he said. “We share the concerns expressed by our local network providers and hope they will continue to work with our employees as they have been ...We all are facing different parts of this crisis in different ways.”
The letter was sent to Barry S. Maram, director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, and to James P. Sledge, director of the Department of Central Management Services. Unless the state finds a way to pay its debts, doctors may leave the insurance network, forcing patients to pay out-of-network costs, or may stop seeing state employees altogether, the letter said.
“The providers have long-standing relationships with those patients and their families and want to keep those relationships going, but at some point, it becomes an economic hardship,” Dant said. “We’re all used to carrying aging debt for Medicaid and self-pay, but when it’s one of the biggest commercial employers in the area, it becomes difficult, especially for smaller practices.”
Department of Healthcare and Family Services spokeswoman Annie Thompson expressed sympathy with the physicians’ position, but noted the state is facing a fiscal crisis that makes it impossible to pay its bills on time.
“The many health care providers who serve state employees, retirees and their dependents provide an invaluable service, and they deserve their compensation in a timely manner,” she said. “The larger issue is that the nation is in the midst of the worst economic recession in decades, and the state of Illinois is facing an unprecedented budget gap.”
The board of directors for the physicians group is scheduled to meet again in December, Dant said, and will re-evaluate its options at that time. No date has been set by which the group expects a response from the state.
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