Blue Cross and the Care New England hospitals have ended their much-publicized contract dispute –– with plenty of time to spare.

They agreed on a five-year contract that ensures Care New England hospitals will stay in the network of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island until 2013.

And despite their public warnings that Care New England hospitals might be dropped from the Blue Cross network after Dec. 31, the sides managed to reach agreement a full four weeks before the contract was to expire.

Last month, Care New England sent letters to nearly 40,000 patients informing them of the contract dispute and urging them to contact the Health Department, Blue Cross and their employers. Care New England spokeswoman May Kernan said at the time that the hospitals had “a responsibility” to inform patients about a potential change that “will have a dramatic effect on how health care is delivered in this community.”

Christopher F. Koller, the state’s health insurance commissioner, said it is preferable for insurers and providers to negotiate their own agreements “and not use other people as pawns.”

While both sides made public statements, “Care New England was certainly more aggressive in getting patients to advocate on their behalf,” Koller said. “We’ve always said, ‘Don’t put patients in the middle.’ ”

Asked yesterday whether the hospitals might have unduly alarmed patients, Kernan declined to comment, saying the sides had agreed not to say anything beyond the four-paragraph statement they released yesterday afternoon.

Care England encompasses Women & Infants Hospital, Kent Hospital, Butler Hospital and the VNA of Care New England. Blue Cross is the state’s dominant health insurer.

Although both the hospital group and the insurer acknowledged that they needed each other, they portrayed the negotiations as a difficult, down-to-the-wire struggle over how much Blue Cross would pay Care New England for services it provides to members. Just last week, they announced that they had agreed to a three-month contract extension so they’d have more time to work out their differences.

Koller, the health insurance commissioner, said that talks seemed to have turned a corner right after the agreement to extend the contract. That agreement resulted from “direct CEO-to-CEO conversations that might have had some effect on negotiating,” he said.

Blue Cross spokesman Christopher J. Medici declined to comment about what caused the turnabout in negotiations, mentioning the mutual agreement not to comment. “The news release expressed the point of view of each organization quite well,” Medici said.

In the statement, Blue Cross president James E. Purcell is quoted as saying, “These are challenging times for all parties concerned. That being said, we are very pleased that we have reached this new agreement. It’s an agreement that will mutually benefit BCBSRI and the CNE system for the long term.”

Care New England president John J. Hynes’ statement said: “BCBSRI has vigorously represented its ratepayers in these negotiations. Yet, BCBSRI has also acknowledged the needs of our hospitals. This new agreement represents a balanced result, which will benefit the healthcare system of Rhode Island.”

Blue Cross and Care New England declined to disclose the terms of the contract. Koller said he had not yet seen the contract terms. “I don’t know what it does to promote long-term affordability,” he said, noting that the agreement is now locked in for five years.

ffreyer@projo.com