PROVIDENCE – Claiming that it was owed as much as $3.67 million, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island sued Landmark Medical Center on March 25.
The lawsuit seeks to have Superior Court in Providence lift its injunction under receivership so Blue Cross can exercise its contractual law remedies.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
According to Blue Cross spokeswoman Kimberly Reingold, the lawsuit is not a direct response to a lawsuit initiated four days earlier by Landmark against Blue Cross, which claimed that inequities in the way that reimbursements were made for health insurance contracts with hospitals were responsible for Landmark’s troubled financial status.
“I would say it is in response to the mounting debt [Landmark] has with us, which is outlined in our motion,” Reingold said.
According to Blue Cross’s lawsuit, Landmark currently owes Blue Cross $668,984.22 in post-petition receivership payments, about 41 percent of Landmark’s cash balance of $1.64 million as of March 12.
The total amount owed, including more than $3 million in additional claims, is more than double Landmark’s available cash, according to the legal documents.
“We’re very sympathetic to Landmark’s current financial distress, but our other members simply cannot be asked to bear the risk for those unpaid claims,” said Laura Calenda, assistant vice president of corporate communications at Blue Cross.
“We are hopeful that Landmark will make their account current, but are taking this precautionary step in order to protect the interests of our broader membership. In the event Landmark is unable to pay their bills, we need to retain the right to terminate our various contracts,” said Calenda.
A spokesman for special master Jonathan Savage disputed the amount of money owed claimed by Blue Cross.
“We do not concur with the numbers they have cited in their motion,” said Bill Fischer, a spokesman for Savage. “This is old news. Blue Cross has presented these arguments to the court on numerous occasions and the judge has stayed their requests.”
Fischer called the lawsuit by Blue Cross “a retaliatory, heavy-handed response to our lawsuit.”
Fischer said he didn’t think that Blue Cross’s lawsuit would have “any effect” on the court-ordered bidding process now underway to purchase Landmark.
Bids are due on March 30; Savage will make is bid recommendation on April 1 and a hearing is scheduled for April 6.
