Cottage Health and Anthem Blue Cross reached a last-minute agreement Tuesday to keep Cottage’s Santa Barbara County facilities in-network for non-emergency care.
The two sides had been negotiating since August, according to Cottage Health spokesman Bob Behbehanian.
“Cottage Health hospitals will remain contracted and in-network in 2020 for Anthem Blue Cross patients,” he said.
Without an agreement, Cottage Health facilities would have been out-of-network for Anthem customers as of Wednesday, which includes Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital and Santa Ynez Valley Hospital.
According to Anthem, without an agreement, non-emergency care from Cottage Health facilities would not be covered as an in-network benefit for individual or employer-based PPO, EPO, HMO and POS health insurance plans.
“Anthem members with Medi-Cal or a Medicare supplemental policy for Part A and Part B (Medigap) are not affected by this contract termination,” Anthem said in a Dec. 18 statement.
Emergency care, which is available at the three Cottage Health hospitals’ emergency departments, is always covered as an in-network benefit by insurers, according to Anthem and Cottage Health.
Patients who have Anthem insurance can call Cottage Health with questions, at 805.879.8909 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, or by emailing insurance@sbch.org, Behbehanian said.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.