Providers and payers face intense negotiations after the pandemic

The pandemic has brought many hospitals and insurers both closer together or farther apart depending on how the two responded and interacted during the first year of the crisis.

Providers and payers that expanded their cooperative efforts since COVID-19 struck are likely to continue on that path, and so are those who pulled back from each other in the past year.

That in turn is shaping how payers and providers approach upcoming contract negotiations, experts say. “The payers who really stepped up and were willing to help and form a partnership this past year will be included in ongoing discussions around how we best manage both longitudinal care and acute needs across the country and potentially around the world,” said Wesley Wolfe, senior director of payer contracting at Cleveland Clinic. “Those payers who were very transactional may have less influence,” he said.

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