Anthem Blue Cross and Montage Health’s Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (Calif.) are still in negotiations ahead of their end-of-month contract deadline, both organizations confirmed.
The change would affect members across Anthem Blue Cross’ self-insured employer-sponsored individual plans, commercial products (such as Anthem Prudent Buyer, PPO, EPO and POS plans), HMO plans and Covered California offerings, according to Montage Health’s website.
“This decision [to end the contract] was made solely by Anthem and not by Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula or Montage Health,” Montage Health’s website said.
Montage Medical Group, Montage Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Center, and Montage Urgent Care would still be available even if the hospital goes out of network. However, Montage said Anthem has sent termination notices to some providers at these facilities.
“We are focused on reaching a new agreement,” an Anthem Blue Cross spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “We are working with CHOMP to improve affordability and align future cost growth with statewide benchmarks. Local access to care matters to us as much as it matters to our members and employers.”
