We value our partnership with Jefferson Health and its physicians, nurses, and care teams, and we are working in earnest to reach an agreement. We deeply respect all the dedicated individuals who serve patients throughout our community. They deserve to be paid fairly for the care they deliver. Our record of 86 consecutive provider agreements over the last decade shows our commitment to working with providers without public display. But since Jefferson Health has made our negotiations public, here’s the story as we see it.
We remain actively engaged in negotiations with Jefferson Health and are committed to reaching a fair agreement that keeps it in the Independence Blue Cross (IBX) network.
The comparisons Jefferson Health is sharing publicly are misleading and obscure the facts. They rely on hospitals in markets such as New York and California and on averages that are not representative of the Philadelphia region. Those comparisons do not reflect the reimbursement rates that matter to members and customers here at home and instead create a distorted picture that supports Jefferson’s unprecedented rate demands.
Other health systems in our region receive reimbursement rates comparable to what we currently pay Jefferson Health and remain financially stable, with several posting profits. We do not believe our members and customers should be asked to pay more for the same care from Jefferson as they receive from other physicians and hospitals in the region.
Over the last decade, Jefferson Health has grown from three to more than 30 hospitals. They also acquired a health insurance plan, which has contributed to their challenging financial situation. This significant expansion matters because according to a 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, empirical research unambiguously shows that hospital system-led acquisitions and mergers are associated with higher prices for services charged to insurers and patients.
We’ve offered Jefferson Health a significant rate increase. Still, Jefferson Health has made clear that it will leave our network if IBX does not agree to its even higher rate increase demands, which will inevitably increase member costs.
IBX has worked with nearly every other health system in our region over the last decade to reach a fair deal. In that time, not one health system has made their case in public before exhausting all attempts for a deal. Jefferson is the first.
Access is not simply having a health system in your network. Health care is only truly accessible when people can afford it. IBX will continue negotiating in good faith, but we have a responsibility to protect families and employers from unreasonable rate increases that pressure local economies and make health care less accessible across the region, for members and non-members alike. That’s why we’re focused on reaching a fair agreement with Jefferson Health at the negotiating table, where negotiations belong.
We are proud to offer the largest provider network in the region. If Jefferson Health chooses not to accept fair rates and leave our network, our members will still have access to thousands of high-quality doctors, hospitals, and facilities. However, while these negotiations are ongoing, nothing changes for members today, and Jefferson Health remains in-network through December 31, 2026.
