Valued Voice

On Dec. 17, American Hospital Association (AHA) President & CEO Rick Pollack sent a letter to the CEO of Elevance Health, which is the parent company to the Anthem brand of health plans, urging the company to rescind Anthem’s nonparticipating provider policy that is set to go into effect Jan. 1, citing the harm it will inflict on patients.

Effective January 1, 2026, Anthem intends to impose punitive measures on hospitals participating in the plan’s network in instances where an out-of-network provider is part of an Anthem enrollee’s care team. Under the policy, Anthem could penalize hospitals equal to 10% of the allowed amount of the hospital’s claims that involve the use of an out-of-network provider and potentially terminate the hospital from its networks. Penalties and termination can be applied to hospitals under the policy even though hospitals may not own, control or manage independent providers involved in a patient’s care.

“Specifically, Anthem’s approach would limit patients’ choice of providers and could even mislead them about where they can access care,” the letter states.

Read the letter here.