PARIS, Tenn. (WTVF) — There is great disappointment in Henry County.
As we've reported, the Henry County Medical Center is struggling financially and recently announced plans to shut down its OB-GYN ward.
Many had hoped the hospital would be able to keep its maternity ward open if Blue Cross Blue Shield paid more for moms and babies on TennCare. But NewsChannel 5 Investigates has discovered that BlueCross just made an offer to the hospital.
The only problem is that it doesn't even come close to what is needed.
Early Tuesday morning, a long line of people held signs in front of the Henry County Medical Center, showing support for the hospital and its obstetrics department, which is set to close Sept. 1. The mood though was rather upbeat and hopeful.
But inside the hospital, there was not a lot of that same hope and optimism as hospital administrators finally received a proposed rate increase from Blue Cross Blue Shield, and it was nowhere near what the hospital had asked for.
"To have it underfunded so profoundly, and in such a way that it financially cripples the hospital, it just doesn’t make sense," said Dr. Pamela Evans, one of the ob-gyns at the Henry County Medical Center.
Evans has helped deliver hundreds of babies a year at the hospital from Henry and at least five surrounding counties. But here's what they're dealing with. Seventy percent of the moms and babies at the hospital are on TennCare and most are on the Blue Cross Blue Shield program known as BlueCare.
BlueCare has been paying Henry County to take care of new moms and babies the same amount since 2017, which, believe it or not, is actually less than it paid in 2009.
"I think it’s immoral. You can’t expect us to take care of a baby for $400 for 36 or 48 hours," Dr. Evans said.
In early June, the hospital asked BlueCare to increase its OB reimbursement rates by several hundred percent to make the payments closer to what it actually costs to provide the services.
But some seven weeks later, BlueCare sent the hospital its offer, a 25% increase for all hospital services in year one and a 10-12% increase in year two.
But for the OB unit, even with both increases, BlueCare will still be paying close to or even less than it did in 2009.
"That doesn’t even come close, and they have to know that doesn’t come close to taking care of these babies," Dr. Evans said.
Again, BlueCross is offering to increase its reimbursement rates for all hospital services. But Henry County administrators say like OB, BlueCare pays extremely low rates for these other services and has made it clear that if the OB ward closes, that 25% rate across the board increase for the other services goes away.
"It just seems very manipulative, and I don’t think that’s the way you should be when you’re taking care of people and when you’re distributing Medicaid dollars," Dr. Evans said.
"It’s perplexing. It’s disappointing. And it’s incredibly sad. And anybody who cares about their fellow Tennesseans should be really upset about this," Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said.
Clemmons got involved after seeing our initial reports and said it's frustrating that TennCare has not done more to help Henry County, and actually, he said, neither has BlueCross.
"They (Blue Cross) had the opportunity to be a real hero here and look good. This could’ve been a great PR opportunity for Blue Cross Blue Shield," Clemmons said.
Clemmons said if insurance companies like Blue Cross are not going to address the health care needs of Tennesseans on their own, then it's time to re-evaluate the system and how it works.
The Nashville Democrat said he tried talking with Gov. Lee about the situation in Henry County just the other day.
"I directly said something about the Henry County Medical Center (to the governor) and the need to address the situation, and I got mostly a blank stare," Clemmons shared.
"Did he seem to care? Did he want to know more?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.
"No," Clemmons replied.
Back at Tuesday's rally in front of the hospital, Brandilyn Gutierrez who was holding a sign that read "We love our hospital," said, "Our lives are already hard enough as it is without having to drive an hour away."
The people at the rally know how important it is to save the maternity department and how losing it will cost both mothers' and babies' lives.
Dr. Pamela Evans said, "We are doing (delivering) 500 to 600 babies a year. I think we deserve to be saved."
The hospital told NewsChannel 5 Investigates it will make a counteroffer, but administrators are not holding their breath. Meanwhile, the Henry County Hospital Board meets Thursday night at 5:30pm at the hospital and will be discussing what to do next and we're told a lot of people are planning to be there, urging the board to fight for the unit.
Since we started our reporting three weeks ago, both BlueCross and TennCare have repeatedly refused our requests for interviews.
We asked TennCare whether they'd approved or even were aware of the rates Blue Cross was proposing and we got no answer.
Blue Cross told us: "We care about the Henry County community's access to health care, and we're continuing active discussions with" the hospital. They say they're "in the early stage of good faith negotiations."
But again, the hospital doesn't have time to keep going back and forth. It's said it can't afford to keep the unit open beyond September first and BlueCross knows that.
PREVIOUS RELATED REPORTING BY NEWSCHANNEL 5 INVESTIGATES
Why a Nashville lawmaker is helping to save a rural hospital
The Henry County Medical Center's money problems should concern you, too. Here's why.
The Henry County Medical Center is closing its ob-gyn unit. Why and who's to blame?
'It terrifies me!' Pregnant women concerned by Henry County Medical Center's decision to close ob-gyn unit
