Cigna and HCA Houston Healthcare have extended their current contract until Oct. 8 amid ongoing negotiations, the Houston Business Journal reported Oct. 3.
Here are five things to know about the ongoing negotiations:
1. Negotiations dragged into the eleventh hour Sept. 30, the last day of the current contract.
2. A lapse in contract would have resulted in 14 HCA hospitals, including some of the city’s busiest facilities, falling out of network for Cigna members.
3. At least 11 ASCs and outpatient facilities would have also been affected.
4. The update will extend the current contract, but a new deal has not been finalized.
5. “Good faith negotiations are continuing with HCA Houston on a fair, reasonable contract in line with other local providers that will keep health care affordable for our customers and their families,” a Cigna spokesperson said in an email to the Journal. “To avoid disruption for the people we both serve, both parties have agreed to extend the current contract until 11:59 p.m. on October 8 as we continue working toward a new agreement.”
