By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Both sides assure the public they are trying very hard to work things out.

But what if Cincinnati's biggest hospital group and the region's biggest health insurer can't work out their contract dispute before the big ball drops on New Year's Eve?

From women in their last weeks of pregnancy to seniors who scheduled hip replacements in early January, health services for thousands of Greater Cincinnati residents could be disrupted if the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield fail to come to terms.

The Health Alliance includes University, Christ, Jewish, St. Luke and Fort Hamilton hospitals. And other area hospitals say absorbing all the patients who might need to switch hospitals would be difficult.

"Our operating room schedule is filled up," said Joe Kelley, spokesman for TriHealth. "Scheduling time (for Anthem-covered patients who need to switch) would be a challenge."

"This is already a busy time for hospitals," said Karen Kuhn, spokeswoman for Mercy Health Partners. "Let's all keep our fingers crossed that they reach an agreement."

Nothing is assured, but historically, negotiators find a way to resolve these contract disputes, even if it takes working right up to the deadline.

Perhaps because of past experiences with other disputes, there has been no rush yet to move people around. As of Monday, only a handful of doctors had tried to reschedule patients for care at TriHealth hospitals instead of Health Alliance hospitals, Kelley said.

Many doctors also are taking a wait-and-see approach.

"I'm scheduling patients into the middle and end of January now," said cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Russ Vester. "I've had very few calls asking about this. There's nothing for us to do right now but wait." For those families who have started asking questions, neither Anthem nor the Health Alliance is saying much beyond advising people to call their doctor or call the member-services number on the back of their insurance cards.

"We do continue to talk," said Anthem spokesman Joe Bobbey. "We've been meeting every day for about a week now."

"We're really trying to get this resolved before Christmas," said Health Alliance spokeswoman Gail Myers.

Anthem covers about 370,000 people in Greater Cincinnati. Some of those people got letters in early December warning them that the contract between the two organizations could be terminated on Dec. 31.

---

E-mail tbonfield@enquirer.com