Ridgewood, N.J.-based Valley Hospital settled with Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey the day before a trial was set to begin on allegations that the insurer pushed smaller community hospitals out of the market, according to NJ.com.
Valley Hospital was the last of seven hospitals that sued Horizon to settle with the insurer. The hospitals accused Horizon of putting them in a less desirable tier of their OMNIA plans.
Valley Hospital officials didn't disclose the settlement's financial terms, but said the hospital had not yet been reclassified as tier one.
The tier one designation was supposed to be reserved for high quality facilities, though Horizon selected only the largest hospitals, even when smaller community facilities may have had better quality measures or prices.
The other hospitals included in the lawsuit were Pennington-based Capital Health Hospitals; Freehold-based CentraState medical Center; Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck; JFK Medical Center in Edison; St. Luke's Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg and Elizabeth-based Trinitas Regional Medical Center, all in New Jersey.