Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey's tiered provider network, Omnia, has come under heavy criticism over accusations of shutting out major Garden State hospitals. A column in the Newark Star-Ledger critiqued what it called lack of transparency in the tiering process and noted that numerous hospitals ranked in its second tier were ranked higher for care quality than those in the first tier by the Leapfrog Group. "Patients will flock to Tier 1 hospitals, drain huge streams of revenue from Tier 2 hospitals," the piece predicted. "Some of them will likely close, and most will be forced to scale back on charitable services, according to several hospital executives and legislators." Read the full story at FierceHealthFinance