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Cottage Hospital: Committed to Caring for the Community

Posted By Cottage Hospital on Nov 14 2014

Hospital Has Agreements With All 5 Insurers in the NH Healthcare Marketplace

Maria Ryan, PhD, APRN, Chief Executive Officer of Cottage Hospital has announced that the hospital has reached agreements with all five insurers participating in the 2015 New Hampshire health insurance marketplace. The five insurers are Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Assurant Health, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Minuteman Health, and Maine Community Health Options.

 

“While all 26 hospitals in the state will accept coverage from at least three of the carriers, only 10 will accept coverage from all five,” explained Ryan in making the announcement. “Our mission at Cottage Hospital is to strengthen the health of our community by providing accessible, compassionate, quality healthcare. Making sure that we work with all of the insurers gives those in our community who will be purchasing their insurance through the marketplace a full range of choices. We want every individual, family and business to be assured of finding a health insurance plan that meets their needs and budget—and gives them access to their local hospital and health care providers of choice.”

Ryan said she’s encouraged by the range of options for 2015. “When open enrollment begins on November 15, the marketplace will include about 60 different plans from the five carriers— up from just 14 plans and one carrier in 2014. We’ve been proactive in working with Anthem, and feel our low cost and high quality will be a great addition to their Pathway Network. Also, with the exclusion of Littleton Regional Hospital from the Anthem network, we want to be able to offer easy access to individuals seeking care. We will continue to offer weekend hours in our laboratory and MRI services, as well as extended primary care provider hours to better accommodate the needs of the patients.”

“We’re pleased to be working with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care,” continued Ryan. “Harvard Pilgrim has designated Cottage Hospital as a Tier 1 provider because we meet their standards for the highest quality care. We’re one of only seven hospitals in the state to earn this designation and the only hospital in northern New Hampshire. What this means for those who choose Harvard Pilgrim is that they will pay less out of pocket for laboratory and surgical services when they choose Cottage.”

While Anthem and Harvard Pilgrim are familiar names to many people, the other three insurers may not be. Minuteman Health and Maine Community Health Options are Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO?OP), a new type of nonprofit health insurer created by the Affordable Care Act. CO?OPs were created to offer consumer?friendly, affordable health insurance options to individuals and small businesses. CO?OPs are required to meet the same state and federal quality and financial standards as other health insurance plans; and they are encouraged to offer better coordination of consumers’ medical care. Assurant Health, part of Assurant, a Fortune 500 company, is a traditional insurer and the only one of the five insurers that will not offer health insurance on the federally?operated Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) for New Hampshire, available to businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

“It’s a good feeling to be able to assure local residents that, when marketplace enrollment for 2015 begins on November 15, Cottage Hospital will be part of their network, no matter which plan they choose,” concluded Ryan.