Coastal Women’s Healthcare in Scarborough will drop Anthem insurance plans as of Aug. 23, 2022.
Coastal Women’s Healthcare says that if you are a pregnant patient with their obstetrics practice or are otherwise in the middle of an active care plan with their practice, they will continue to provide care to you, and will complete your care plan in its entirety.
That means if you are pregnant, regardless of your delivery date, they will continue to see you as a patient through your delivery and post-delivery care.
Coastal Women’s Healthcare recommends Mainers reach out to Anthem directly, at the number on the back of your insurance card, to discuss any impact on your cost sharing obligations.
They will not be able to accept any new Anthem patients, or schedule new appointments for patients with Anthem insurance who are not currently in an active care plan, after Aug. 23.
This action does not impact patients who have insurance through their employment at MaineHealth.
“At Coastal Women’s Healthcare, our first priority has always been to provide our patients with the highest-quality, most affordable women’s healthcare in the area. In order to do this, we must have relationships with insurers that are built on mutual respect and a sense of fairness. Despite our longstanding relationship with Anthem, however, we are struggling to achieve those standards and have now reached the point where we can’t continue to do business with them,” Coastal Women’s Healthcare said.
Coastal Women’s Healthcare said that their current rates of reimbursement for services they provide to Anthem’s members are much too low to allow them to continue to provide the level of quality care patients have come to expect.
They said they have proposed rates to Anthem that are sustainable for their practice but would still position them as an affordable alternative to other practices in the area.
Despite their attempts to create a better partnership between Anthem and Coastal Women’s Healthcare, they say Anthem has not provided a serious response to their proposals to do so.
“We sincerely regret any impact this difficult decision has on our patients, but we are absolutely committed to continuing the course of treatment for our current patients. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us with any concerns, and we will be happy to work with you to find a path forward together under these difficult circumstances,” Coastal Women’s Healthcare said.
A South Portland urology practice also decided to drop Anthem insurance plans this year. Fore River Urology says it will no longer be accepting Anthem commercial plans starting Aug. 1.
Maine Medical Center decided to drop Anthem as an in-network insurance provider, along with Fore River Urology in Portland.
