NOVEMBER 2008: On November 28, the last date of placing a bid for the state GIC’s July ‘08 contract, BC/BS formally announced that it would not bid on the contract. BC/BS last bid on the state contracts in 1988, when they GIC moved its Indemnity Plan coverage to John Hancock.

In a press release issued by BC/BS and backed by a statement from the MA Medical Society, the company cites its concerns with the GIC’s Clinical Performance Improvement Initiative as reason not to bid on the state contract. The CPII, otherwise known as physician tiering, is a system that the GIC developed to evaluate the efficiency of doctors. Physicians are then placed in two separate tiers, which have $10 and $20 copays respectively.

Since the GIC implemented the policy last year, the MA Medical Society, which represents more than 18,000 Bay State physicians, has been highly critical of the method by which the tiering takes place. According to the MMS, the GIC’s method is inconsistent with industry standards and those used by other insurers, like BC/BS.

Our Assocation has never been in favor of the GIC’s policy of tiering individual doctors, nor have most members been in favor of tiering.