Elevance Health, the insurer behind Anthem plans, said Sept. 29 that it will stop paying hospital rates for certain care delivered at hospital-owned clinics located away from the main hospital campus. According to the company's announcement of new billing transparency policies, those services will instead be paid at the lower off-campus rate. The policies will roll out during 2026 and 2027 across its commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid plans.
The change targets a billing practice that surprises many families. When a hospital system buys a neighborhood doctor's office, the same visit with the same doctor can be billed as hospital outpatient care, often with an added facility fee. Elevance, whose companies serve about 104 million people, said one member's bill rose to more than 10 times the normal amount because of this kind of billing.
