Talks continue over hospital rates

Michelle Swafford

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

Health plan contract negotiations have been extended past Monday's deadline for more than 300,000 Las Vegas Valley workers, meaning those workers can be treated at current rates during discussions.

The Health Services Coalition -- a Las Vegas Valley nonprofit group that represents 23 employers and unions of teachers, firefighters, police officers, construction workers and hotel and casino employees -- has been negotiating with local hospitals for better rates for several months. The three-year contract was scheduled to expire Dec. 31, but was automatically extended to Monday as part of the contract terms.

Because the coalition and the hospitals could not reach an agreement by midnight, the hospitals agreed to contract extensions of between 7 days and 10 days, said Andy Brignone, lawyer for the coalition and many of its members.

"We have an agreement with the hospitals that we will work intensely during the next week to 10 days to reach a mutually agreeable solution," Brignone said. " We've devoted full resources and are prepared to negotiate around the clock."

He said the coalition has made more progress with some hospitals than others, but it continues to negotiate with all of them for the benefit of coalition participants.

The coalition wants one set of prices for all of the valley's hospitals with price increases of less than 10 percent, while hospitals are asking for rate increases of between 15 percent and 20 percent.