Hendricks County Hospital, Anthem Can’t Reach Deal

A small hospital in Hendricks County that opened this year is calling out Indiana’s largest insurer, Indianapolis-based Anthem. As Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Jill Sheridan reports, the hospital says Anthem calls them a microhospital and is not covering services.

Microhospitals offer limited services and acute care in a smaller, more convenient building. There are a growing number of them in central Indiana but in-network coverage by Indiana’s largest insurer, Anthem, has been a fight.

READ MORE: St. Vincent, Anthem Reach Deal On Microhospitals

Hendricks Regional Health’s Brownsburg Hospital opened earlier this year and Chief Strategy Officer Gary Everling says it is not a microhospital and should be treated the same as their other facilities.

“They won’t reimburse Brownsburg hospital with the same rates for the same services we provide in their contract in Plainfield, Avon or Danville,” says Everling.

In a statement Anthem says the hospital has just six impatient beds and no surgical capabilities. The insurer says they have made fair contract offers.  Everling says the offer includes an 80 percent reduction in coverage for services like mammograms, labs and the emergency department.

“We worry about the Anthem members who live in that community who don’t have convenient access to low cost care,” says Everling.

St. Vincent’s micro or neighborhood hospitals recently reached an in-network deal with Anthem for coverage.