Aetna, Baycare hospitals settle contract dispute

About 300,000 Tampa Bay area residents with Aetna health insurance got an early Christmas present this week: The company settled its contract dispute with BayCare Health Systems.

The BayCare system, which includes such popular hospitals as Morton Plant, Mease, St. Anthony's and St. Joseph's, had a three-year contract to serve Aetna's members that was due to expire Dec. 31. As is often the case, negotiations on a new deal pushed the deadline, with BayCare wanting more money to treat patients than Aetna was offering, and Aetna wanting to pay less than BayCare thought appropriate.

The two sides finally agreed on a new three-year deal on Thursday, says Isaac Mallah, a BayCare executive who negotiates managed care contracts.

"This will give access to (Aetna) members to BayCare facilities that we are very happy about,'' he says. "We serve the community and when we don't have an agreement with a managed care provider, it cuts that access off and we don't want to do that.''

Mallah declines to discuss rate details. Aetna representatives are not available for comment.

Stephen Nohlgren, Times staff writer