Judge vows to move fast ahead of July 1 UPMC-Highmark split
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, center, speaks at a news conference about legal action in the dispute between health insurance providers UPMC and Highmark Health, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
This story has been updated.
(Harrisburg) — A Pennsylvania judge plans to rule in a couple weeks about whether and how a five-year consent decree that’s about to expire between two mammoth health care providers and the attorney general’s office can be modified.
Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson on Friday scheduled a two-day hearing about the future of the fraught business relationship Highmark and UPMC.
The state Supreme Court earlier this week asked for the proceedings, and it’s all but certain that the justices will review whatever Simpson determines.
The consent decree the companies signed in 2014 is set to expire at the end of June, triggering higher costs for Highmark insurance customers who get treatment at UPMC’s vast network in western Pennsylvania.
Simpson says he hopes to rule by June 14.
An earlier version of this story appears below.
(Harrisburg) — The future of a fraught business relationship between two mammoth health care providers is at stake in a hearing planned for a Pennsylvania courtroom.
The Commonwealth Court hearing in Harrisburg was quickly scheduled for Friday morning, three days after a state Supreme Court order.
A judge says lawyers for the attorney general’s office and health care companies UPMC and Highmark will have to be “prepared to address compliance” with the court order.
A five-year consent decree the companies signed in 2014 is set to expire at the end of June.
A majority of justices want the lower court to figure out what the parties meant five years ago when they included a provision that allows the consent decree to be modified.
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