Blue Cross, L.A. Hospitals Settle Dispute
Blue Cross and three Los Angeles County hospitals settled a dispute over fees Wednesday, ending a standoff that could have affected more than 175,000 members.
The deal -- terms of which are secret -- allows members of Blue Cross of California to get full coverage for care at Centinela Freeman HealthSystem hospitals in Inglewood and Marina del Rey. Blue Cross is owned by WellPoint Inc., the nation’s largest health insurer.
Had the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Blue Cross could have begun directing patients to other hospitals.
Fears of such a disruption and concern about the financial health of the hospitals -- formerly owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. -- prompted elected officials and hospital union officials to hold a town hall meeting Tuesday, hours before the deal was struck.
Inglewood Councilman Curren Price said he was relieved that the two sides had worked it out because the spat had imperiled the healthcare and employment of thousands of people. But, he said, because the terms of the deal are secret, it is impossible to evaluate their value or fairness.
“It’s hard to tell who the good guy and who the bad guy is,” Price said. “But it’s clear the public was going to suffer either way.”
Had the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Blue Cross was prepared to pay for taxis and shuttle vans to ferry patients to other hospitals to minimize their inconvenience, said WellPoint spokesman Robert Alaniz.
He said the agreement was a “win-win for not only Centinela, Blue Cross and its members but the community at large.”
Centinela Freeman Chief Executive Mike Rembis said the last two weeks of negotiations led to concessions on both sides.
“Nobody got everything they wanted,” he said. “But, in the end, we felt comfortable with the results.”
The deal came two weeks after the state Department of Managed Health Care stepped in and, in effect, extended the contract and urged the two sides to work harder at coming to terms.
