After July 31, 2019, Renown Health will no longer accept Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Anthem issued a termination notice in February of 2019.
“When we went with them we were confident in their care, now I question why?” Victor Simon says.
Some patients, like Victor and Suzanne Simon, of Truckee say they didn’t know about it until this month.
“We knew nothing about this and in fact we still I mean Renown has my chart and many ways to contact us but when were they going to tell us?” Suzanne Simon says.
Both Renown and Anthem have said they were working toward a resolution but now time is up.
“I just want them to pull up their big boy pants and get it done is really what I’d like to say, we’re adults you are treating us as customers not as patients, get back to the basics treat us as patients and we will respect you as doctors and administrators,” Victor says.
The Simons say if this had happened earlier, their current outcome could have been much different.
“Coming from someone who had to go through chemo for six months, I had enough on my plate, my wife had enough on her plate, worry about my care and if she or I discovered halfway through they were no longer covering us, the treatment or I’d have to pay out of network, it would financially bankrupt us first of all but would take such an emotional toll that you’d wonder if you were even going to get better,” he says.
Renown issued a statement saying:
“Renown Health is committed to providing timely, cost effective, quality health care to the community. We rely on the support and collaboration of insurance partners like Anthem to reach those goals. While a resolution in contract negotiations with Anthem has not been reached to date, we remain optimistic that Anthem will choose to remain contracted with Renown for years to come. The costs of providing health care continue to rise while service demands continue to increase, which can create challenges for providers and insurers trying to balance complex patient care objectives.
Like our patients, doctors, nurses, employees and neighbors, Renown Health is a member of this community, and we take to heart our responsibility to contribute to the community’s overall health and well-being. Renown Health is a charitable, not-for-profit integrated health network. Being not-for-profit means that all of our income stays here—and is reinvested in programs, people and equipment to improve the health of our community. Renown serves a 17-county region that includes northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northeast California. Services span over 100,000 square miles from Salt Lake City to Sacramento, and serve almost 1 million people.
In order to minimize the disruption to patient care during this negotiation, if an Anthem member has a previously scheduled service, Renown will honor that service. That includes anyone in the midst of extensive care, such as pregnancy, scheduled surgery or ongoing critical care treatment.
Anthem BCBS members may contact Anthem at 1-800-331-1476 (EST) or www.anthem.com for a list of in-network providers. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Anthem-BCBS members who have concerns about this change may also contact their employer’s human resources department to discuss the situation.
Date: August 01, 2019
Source: KOLO-TV