Member Discounts for Durable Medical Equipment
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Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is pleased to announce it has new national agreements with two durable medical equipment (DME) providers: Edgepark Surgical, which is new to our network, and Sterling Medical Services, a current in-network provider. These new agreements give members discounted pricing primarily on supplies used for diabetes, urological conditions and ostomies (colostomy, urostomy, etc.). New National Contracts Help Stretch Members’ Benefit Dollars
The new contracts, effective January 1, 2005, grant members an approximate 20 percent savings on supplies such as insulin pumps, blood glucose monitoring kits, external catheter kits and cholesterol testing kits. The new pricing enables members to purchase more supplies within the maximum benefit levels of their plan. And, if their purchases exceed the maximum benefit level, members’ out-of-pocket expenses will be reduced. These providers sell other medical supplies, and the discount applies to those items as well.
As a result of these new contracts, Byram HealthCare will not be an in-network DME provider after March 6, 2005. To continue receiving in-network benefits, members currently using Byram HealthCare to order supplies must transfer to Sterling Medical Services or Edgepark Surgical before March 6, 2005, which is the date our contract with Byram HealthCare terminates. After that date, any supplies ordered from Byram will be subject to the higher-cost, out-of-network benefits level. All members who have used Byram HealthCare or Sterling Medical Services in the past six months will be notified via U.S. mail of these changes.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield continually seeks opportunities, such as these national contracts, to help keep members’ health care costs more manageable.
These new contracts do not affect our agreements with other DME providers, such as Apria or Lincare, which provide different types of medical supplies. The discounts do not apply to Child Health Plan (CHP+) or Medicare Supplement members.
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