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Thursday, October 26, 2006Questions for Providers about Hanger/LinkiaI spent a few minutes listing to the Hanger conference call this morning. I apparently missed a little as, when I logged on at the advertised time, the call was already in progress. Much of the discussions seemed to center on Linkia. A couple of things surprised me. First of all, they indicated that there is really no "volatility" related to Linkia. They indicated that, as termination letters were being sent out by CIGNA, providers were contacting Linkia with interest. They indicated that, for those wanting to continue to do business with CIGNA, it is a simple choice, that being to sign on with Linkia. When asked what happened if they didn't want to join Linkia, the response was that there are other providers waiting in line. They indicated they have not experienced any problems with recruitment and don't anticipate they will. They indicate that they will have adequate coverage, and if it can be Hanger coverage, that's preferential. They talked about sending packages of information very quickly to those who were interested. At the same time, on their website this morning, it says: "If you are an O&P provider interested in becoming a member of the Linkia provider network, please check back to the website periodically to learn of new network participation opportunities. At present, Linkia has a network in place serving its existing business. As we add regional and national contracts with healthcare companies, we will have need for additional O&P network providers." I didn't see, on their website, the option to request that packet of information! They did talk about a pricing structure locked down for a couple of years, followed by pricing increases. That will probably not be great news for CIGNA. I'd like to hear from providers throughout the country, with some answers to the following: 1. Particularly if you are in an area with a Hanger presence, have you attempted to contact Linkia about joining? What was the response? 2. Are you a provider that, since receiving a termination letter from CIGNA, have signed on with Linkia? 3. Are you a provider that, since receiving a termination letter from CIGNA, have been asked to join the Linkia network and have chosen NOT to join? If not, why not? Thanks for your response. |
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1 Comments:
Here are Anonymous comments received to this blog:
Anonymous said...
Our facility has been contacted by Linkia as there is not a Hangar facility within 150 miles of us.
We have chosen not to join due to the very low reimbursement rates, and I personally don't like the idea of them skimming off the top of all of our claims to fill their pockets for doing nothing other than passing our claims along.
Our facility if fully licensed and credentialled so it isn't as if they were going to have to do anything to assure that we were providing high quality services to our patients, which is one of the reasons Cigna is handing over their O & P contracts.
I am still having discussions with my Cigna Provider Rep regarding ways that we could stay in network, but it is looking grim...
A Provider in Texas
5:49 PM
Anonymous said...
We are a ** location facility located in the Midwest. We received a provider packet after receiving a call from a Linkia representative to contract with them.
After asking a lot of questions, I found out that they were only interested in bringing on one of our ** locations.
According to the representative they would bring on all five of the Hanger locations and one of ours. This really did not sit well with us.
We have the current CIGNA contract and our patients can choose to go to any one of our ** facilities.
If we contract with Linkia and our patients still want to use us then they can only be seen at one of our locations regardless of how much more convenient one of our other locations is to their home.
What kind of patient care is this? Why should our company be put at a competitive disadvantage by joining the Linkia network?
If you are a multi-location O&P company, be very careful when contracting with Linkia. Hanger facilities are automatically included in their network and then they fill in all the spots where a Hanger facility is not close by. If you have a Hanger down the street then you can pretty much rule out that facility being included in the Linkia network.
Sincerely,
A Midwest Prosthetist
6:02 PM
Anonymous said...
Hello
When I recieved the letter from CIGNA I immediately called LINKIA and was informed that they were not taking on any more providers at that time.
PT, CPO, FAAOP
New England
7:26 PM
Anonymous said...
I wanted to respond to your inquiry to O&P facilities regarding whether or not they had signed onto Linkia.
Since my last email response to you (see below) we have been swamped with responses (literally hundreds) from independent O&P companies wanting to discuss a wide variety of topics, including networks in general, membership in OPGA/POINT, distributor purchasing habits, etc., with the most prevalent topic Managed Care Contracting, specifically Linkia.
In response to your inquiry, the vast majority of those providers have state rather emphatically that they would not be signing on with Linkia. I found this very encouraging for the independents in our profession. Of course, the next natural step is for a network such as OPGA/POINT to step up and go after those Managed Care Contracts, which can be done if we have the support of the vast majority of the independent O&P facilities.
Also encouraging was the number of clinicians that responded and stated that they would change their purchasing habits. Independents are now realizing that they need to take proactive steps to defend against losses to their national, publicly traded competitor.
Thank you again for your amazing insight into our profession...as a patient.
Best regards,
Jim Andreassen
President, OPGA
Phone: 800-214-6742
Fax: 888-449-0610
email: jim.andreassen@vgm.com
SENT YOUR OWN RESPONSE TO DAN@GOTTRYS.COM
9:44 AM
Anonymous said...
Hi Dan,
I am in an area that hanger dominates and have opened my own facility.
I have tried to contact linkea out of curiosity and to see what would happen. I emailed and called several times and they never responded.
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