Anthem Blue Cross and Stanford Health Care have agreed to terms on a new multi-year contract, a press release stated on Wednesday, allowing thousands once again to receive services in-network from Stanford hospital and affiliated clinics.
The announcement arrives after the two groups went without a contract for more than two months, beginning on Sept. 8 when the previous contract expired. The new agreement, which is for three years, will retroactively provide coverage for services Anthem patients received at Stanford during the out-of-contract period, according to the press release.
Stanford and Anthem will work together to make sure claims from the last two months will be processed. Darrel Ng, spokesman for Anthem, said that this shouldn’t involve any work on the part of Anthem patients at Stanford.
“The steps should be taken care of for the members,” Ng said.
Both Ng and James Larkin, spokesman for Stanford Health Care, said they were unable to comment or provide further information on the terms of the deal reached.
In September, Larkin said that though the parties had then agreed on terms for a two-year contract, Stanford was seeking a three-year contract to provide more time before the next round of negotiations.
This is awesome. I just diagnosed of cancer on Sept 26 and I am have been seeing doctors and treatment and eventually surgery at Stanford since October 2014. I’ve been worry about my medical bills but I’ve always trust Stanford. They said they will honor in network coverage. Now it’s even better since they are in network 🙂
Thanks Anthem and Stanford. I feel so much better before heading to my surgery on Monday 11/17/14. I’ve found a top doctor for myself. Dr. Dirbas and Dr. Lee.
T.L
Shame on both parties for their failure to come to an agreement before the contract expired.