NEW YORK (360Dx) – Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey today announced it has renewed its laboratory services relationship with Laboratory Corporation of America and added Quest Diagnostics as an in-network provider of such services.
LabCorp has been the exclusive in-network provider of clinical lab services for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield's managed care members for more than 20 years and will continue to exclusively provide those services to the health insurer's 900,000 Medicaid members. Starting on Jan. 1, 2019, however, LabCorp will no longer be the exclusive national lab services provider for Horizon PPO and Traditional members.
Starting then, Quest will serve all Horizon BCBS members excluding the insurer's managed Medicaid and Dual Eligible Special Needs plan beneficiaries, Quest said.
LabCorp said that it and Horizon BCBS will collaborate to reduce overall costs by focusing on value-based care programs and to move more lab testing from out-of-network and higher-cost providers. The renewal covers more than 3.8 million patients enrolled in Horizon BCBS, LabCorp said.
The deal with Quest covers more than 2.8 million members of the insurer.
Today's announcements follow other realignments between lab service providers and insurers. In May, UnitedHealthcare said it was entering a long-term strategic partnership with Quest starting Jan. 1, 2019. It also renewed its partnership with LabCorp, although the deal with Quest meant LabCorp would no longer be UnitedHealthcare's exclusive national lab provier.
Around the same time, LabCorp said that effective Jan. 1, 2019, it would become the preferred national lab for Aetna, effecitively ending Quest's exclusive national preferred status with Aetna.