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Who owns Crescent?
Crescent is a not-for-profit, taxable company.
It is not "owned" in the same sense as companies who are for profit and/or who sell stock or require partners who have ownership equity. Crescent is governed by a Board of Trustees from fourteen local medical communities in Western North Carolina. The Board consists of ten physicians and five hospital representatives.
Who elects the members of the Board of Trustees?
Each local medical community elects representatives to the Board of Delegates.
The Board of Delegates meets once each year and elects the members of the Board of Trustees.
Do you have employer representation in Crescent?
Crescent providers hold the belief that employer/payers should play a primary role in the direction Crescent takes - in provider relations, customer service and
product development. A Business Advisory Council has been established to assist Crescent in developing these efforts. This council elects a chairperson and vice chairperson who become members of the Board of Trustees.
If Crescent does not charge access fees, how do you make enough money to stay in business?
Providers who join Crescent agree to pay Crescent three percent of their paid claims to fund operating expenses.
This amount is determined after all co-pays, co-insurance and/or deductibles are taken into consideration. This amount is not paid by the employer, but by the provider.
What is a messenger model, and why did you choose to use it?
Since Crescent is a provider-sponsored organization, those who worked to establish the business knew that it would be necessary to take steps to avoid
price-setting among providers as well as to avoid monopolistic practices. Anti-Trust Counsel for Crescent and the Attorney General of the State of North Carolina explored several options and agreed that the messenger
model would be most effective.
Crescent cannot own a fee schedule, and therefore must receive fee schedules from employers, third party administrators or some other third party which are then messengered to the more than 900
participating physicians, ancillary providers and hospitals in the network.
Each provider has the opportunity to respond by saying, "yes," "no" or "we would like to negotiate further" to each entity messengering a fee schedule through Crescent. Crescent facilitates this messengering process with the goal of building an acceptable provider panel for the employer or other third party. This process takes approximately 90 to 120 days.
I am an employer, and I do not have a fee schedule. How do I get one?
Crescent is currently working with several Third Party Administrators (TPAs) as well as with the Asheville Area Employers' Healthcare
Association (AAEHA) to establish their individual fee schedules with a corresponding directory.
Your TPA may be working with Crescent currently. If not, and you would like to explore using one of the fee schedules owned by either a TPA or the AAEHA, please call or e-mail your inquiry to Myrna Harvey, Director of Marketing.
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