Medical Minute: Blue Cross Of Ga.’s New Emergency Room Policy

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia is enacting a radical new policy on emergency room visits to contain costs.

The insurer, which provides the only Affordable Care Act exchange plan in well over half of Georgia counties, says they’ll carefully scrutinize medical records when its members go to the ER and, if it determines that a reasonable person with the same problem wouldn’t have made the decision to head to the hospital, it won’t pay the bill. Georgia hospitals and ER doctors are decrying the move, as are many consumers.

In this “Medical Minute,” learn why medical analyst Dr. Ford Vox says Anthem is experimenting on Georgians.

For More Information:

• Urgent Care Needs Among Nonurgent Visits to the Emergency Department. JAMA. June 2016.
• Blue Cross in Georgia to limit emergency room coverage. AJC. May 31, 2017.

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