PORTLAND, Ore. — The deadline for Legacy Health and Regence to come to terms on a new insurance reimbursement plan at the end of Sunday, and tens of thousands of patients face finding new in-network providers or paying out-of-network costs.
Legacy provides healthcare for people in Oregon and southwest Washington, while Regence, a major health insurance company, covers 200,000 people who have Legacy primary care doctors. The two have been trying to come to terms to renew a payment agreement for most of the year, and in the final month before the contract deadline, Legacy did not accept a "best and final" offer from Regence.
“Regence continues to work with Legacy’s leadership in hopes of finding a reasonable path to an agreement that will keep them in-network for our members while also supporting our commitment to affordable health care," said Regence, in part, in a statement on Friday. "We continue to negotiate in good faith in hopes we can keep Legacy providers and facilities in network for our members.”
Legacy also stated on their website Friday, "We are all facing a difficult situation as the contract negotiations between Legacy and Regence remain unresolved. Legacy is working hard to reach a fair agreement that will allow BlueCross BlueShield members to continue to receive quality care from Legacy providers.
"However, we also have started preparing our patients for the possibility that the Regence contract will terminate on April 1. If this happens, many BlueCross BlueShield members will no longer have in-network access to all Legacy hospitals, clinics and services."
Both companies said they will help patients transition to other care, if needed.
The two are still 'actively' negotiating as of early Sunday evening, Regence said.