Highmark, UPMC decree will end
PITTSBURGH — A judge has ruled that a state-brokered consent decree between health care rivals UPMC and Highmark cannot be extended beyond the end of June.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro has sought to modify and extend the five-year agreement that gives Highmark members in-network access to UPMC hospitals and physicians.
Judge Robert Simpson said Wednesday that the court couldn’t extend it without consent of parties since Shapiro isn’t pleading “fraud, accident or mistake.” A spokesman said Shapiro will appeal. The Highmark-UPMC relationship was about to end when Tom Corbett brokered the decree in 2014.
