MU Health Care has been working in good faith with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (Anthem) to renew our contract that expires on March 31, 2025, and remain a participating provider in Anthem’s provider and hospital networks. We are committed to working with them to ensure our patients with Anthem coverage maintain in-network access to MU Health Care’s leading-edge services.

A network change could impact your ability to continue receiving convenient, local care from the MU Health Care providers you trust. If our contract expires before an agreement is reached, MU Health Care’s services, physicians, advanced practice providers and facilities will be out of Anthem’s network, starting on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. This change would apply to Anthem or other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans that patients get through their employer, in addition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace and HealthLink plans. MU Health Care will remain in Network for Healthy Blue Medicaid and University of Missouri Student Advantage plans.

This will not impact MU Health Care's retail pharmacy services, allowing Mizzou Pharmacy locations to continue serving Anthem patients with in-network coverage.

Our goal is always to reach an agreement that allows our patients to maintain in-network access to the providers they know and trust while ensuring that MU Health Care is paid fairly and timely for the services we provide.

To ensure we can continue to provide the convenient, local care our patients depend on, we need to negotiate a new agreement.

This change would apply to Anthem or other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans that patients get through their employer, in addition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace and HealthLink plans. MU Health Care will remain in network for Healthy Blue Medicaid and University of Missouri Student Advantage plans.

Yes. Effective April 1, 2025, MU Health Care will no longer be in-network with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans.

This change will not impact MU Health Care's retail pharmacy services, allowing Mizzou Pharmacy locations to continue serving Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO patients with in-network coverage.

To discover what type of Medicare you have, you can log into your Medicare account or look at your card. When looking at your insurance card:

• Original Medicare cards: The lower left corner may say "Hospital (Part A)" or "Medical (Part B)"
• Medicare Advantage cards: May have an insurer logo and say "HMO" or "PPO" on the front, usually near the top

For more information, please visit muhealth.org/medicare.

MU students and scholars with an active Anthem Student Advantage health insurance plan on March 31, 2025, will not be impacted by these negotiations and will continue to have access to the MU Student Health Center and MU Health Care providers and services at in-network rates and levels of coverage until their plans expire in August of 2025.

MU students enrolled in Anthem or another Blue Cross Blue Shield plan other than the Student Advantage Plan, such as a private plan through their or their parents’ employer, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace or HealthLink, will be out of network with the MU Student Health Center and MU Health Care providers, hospitals and outpatient services if an agreement is not reached by March, 31, 2025.

In the event our contract expires before an agreement is reached, our services, physicians, advanced practice providers and facilities will be out of Anthem’s network starting on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. This change would apply to Anthem or other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans that patients get through their employer, in addition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace and HealthLink plans. MU Health Care will remain in Network for Healthy Blue Medicaid and University of Missouri Student Advantage plans.

This will not impact MU Health Care's retail pharmacy services, allowing Mizzou Pharmacy locations to continue serving Anthem patients with in-network coverage.

Yes, but you may have a higher out-of-pocket cost or your Anthem plan may not cover it at all, depending on your plan benefits. At MU Health Care, we believe every patient deserves the ability to access convenient health care close to home from the doctors, nurses and care teams they trust. MU Health Care will continue to care for you regardless of insurance status. Contact Anthem at the number on the back of your insurance card to verify what your out-of-pocket responsibility would be.

This will not impact MU Health Care's retail pharmacy services, allowing Mizzou Pharmacy locations to continue serving Anthem patients with in-network coverage.

Continuity of Care benefits may allow you to temporarily receive treatment at in-network rates for certain health conditions, even if MU Health Care is out of network. These conditions include pregnancy, active cancer treatment, transplant care, and recent major surgeries. Anthem determines eligibility for these benefits, and you can contact Anthem at the number on the back of their insurance ID card to learn more and apply. While Anthem makes the final determination about eligibility, we are happy to address any question you have.

Please know that this change would not affect your coverage for emergency services. Regardless of your insurance status, you will not be responsible for more than the in-network out-of-pocket cost for emergency care in our Emergency Departments.  If your plan includes benefits for emergency services, then Anthem is legally required to cover those services at the in-network rate.

Certain health conditions may qualify for continuity of care benefits, which would allow you to receive your care at in-network rates for a period of up to 90 days or completion of a course of treatment. Anthem is legally required to continue to cover your treatment for that condition at MU Health Care through continuity of care benefits, even at out-of-network locations. We are working with Anthem to determine the process for continuity of care and will share more information with you soon.

Call MU Health Care’s dedicated community information line at 573-650-5409, available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST.

1. Call Anthem to learn more about Continuity of Care Benefits at the number on the back of your insurance card. Patients with certain ongoing health conditions may qualify for Continuity of Care benefits, which could allow them to continue receiving care at MU Health Care at in-network rates for a limited period. While Anthem determines eligibility for this program, patients can visit muhealth.org/continuity-of-care or call our Continuity of Care Central Hub at 573-771-CARE (2273) if they have questions or need assistance with completing their application.
2. Use Out-of-Network Benefits. If your plan offers out-of-network benefits, you may still be able to receive care at MU Health Care, though it may be at a higher cost. Contact Anthem to understand your financial responsibility.

That depends on your plan benefits. We recommend reviewing your plan’s summary of benefits to understand your potential out-of-pocket costs and encourage you to reach out either to your employer or directly to Anthem if you have questions or concerns about your ability to continue receiving care from MU Health Care.

Regardless of your plan’s specific benefits, there will be no increase in your out-of-pocket cost for obtaining emergency care from any MU Health Care Emergency Department.

This will not impact MU Health Care's retail pharmacy services, allowing Mizzou Pharmacy locations to continue serving Anthem patients with in-network coverage.

We do not determine how Anthem manages premiums. We can share that According to the Missouri Department of Commerce & Insurance's 2023 Health Insurance Market Report, Anthem and its peers increased annual premiums to employer groups by as much as 37% over the last decade but has not passed on those rate increases to health care providers.

Across the country, commercial insurers are earning record profits, while patients are paying higher premiums for poorer coverage. Research by the American Hospital Association shows that 62 percent of patients have had treatment delayed by their insurer, causing many of them to become sicker.

We are asking for an increase. MU Health Care is seeking reimbursement rates that cover the increasing costs of care and that are consistent with the rates that Anthem currently pays other state-affiliated academic health systems in the Midwest based on publicly available transparency data.

Our negotiation is also about more than rates – we're seeking fair business practices for our patients and clinicians. MU Health Care has experienced an increase in operational costs due to increasingly burdensome administrative requirements that have resulted in delays in authorization for care, increased claims denials and delays in payment for the high-acuity services we provide to Anthem’s members.

This is false. While Anthem continues to mischaracterize our negotiations and publicly criticize our requested increase in rates, they have yet to provide a counteroffer that provides increases beyond those contained in our current agreement. We have been extremely disappointed in Anthem’s actions throughout this process. They have created real, significant hardships for patients, physicians and caregivers. To name a few examples:

• Refusing MU Health Care’s good faith attempts to collaborate over the course of the summer and fall of 2024 to avoid last minute negotiations.
• Unwilling to commit to new agreements that prioritize patient access and alleviate unnecessary administrative burdens.
• Sharing misleading information about our negotiations instead of working with us to reach a new, fair agreement.