The lawsuit against Ascension Seton by Central Health on Tuesday follows a month in which the local hospital group announced layoffs and settled with Texas’ largest private health insurance company.
Layoffs at Ascension Seton
Ascension, Seton’s parent company, announced on Monday that it was laying off workers at Ascension’s Texas facilities. He did not say how many, which sites, or what types of work were affected. The layoffs were small enough that Ascension Texas did not file with the Texas Manpower Commission.
Ascension Texas, which includes Ascension Seton Central Texas and Ascension Providence hospitals in Waco, said, “The global COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on healthcare systems across the country, and Ascension Texas is no exception.
“We continue to refine the way we provide care in these challenging environments and further align our strategies and structure to best support patient care initiatives to ensure the long-term sustainability of our organization as we continue to provide compassionate and personalized care to all. Every effort has been made to minimize the impact on patient care at the bedside, and we have focused primarily on non-clinical support functions.”
Read more:Blue Cross and Blue Shield may remove Texas Ascension hospitals from the network
Contract fight with Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Meanwhile, Ascension Texas is in talks with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, the largest private insurance company in Texas. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is an insurance company for government employees, employees of the University of Texas, and employees of the City of Austin.
This contract ends January 31st. On February 1st, people who have Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas insurance can expect to pay out-of-network charges instead of in-network charges at Ascension locations.
This difference can be thousands of dollars in deductibles and maximum cash.
Both Ascension Texas and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas said on Monday that they were still working on negotiations but had not received any updates.
