Sansum Clinic and Anthem Blue Cross have reached agreement on new contracts for certain health insurance plans, officials said Thursday.
That’s likely to be a big relief for Santa Barbara-area patients who use Sansum Clinic for medical care.
Both organizations updated their negotiation websites on Thursday with news they had reached agreement, but no details were immediately available.
“Sutter Health/Sansum Clinic and Anthem Blue Cross have reached agreement for all products. We will share more details here shortly,” Sansum officials wrote.
Santa Barbara-based Sansum Clinic, which joined Sutter Health last year, operates primary, specialty and urgent-care clinics and an outpatient surgery center.
Sutter Health has been negotiating with Anthem for months on contracts for commercial EPO, PPO, HMO and POS health insurance plans.
Sansum Clinic recently notified more than 30,000 people that their coverage could be affected in 2025 if no agreement was reached, since the services wouldn’t be in-network for patients with certain Anthem health insurance plans.
Sutter Health’s agreement with Anthem for commercial EPO and PPO health insurance plans was set to terminate as of Jan. 1, 2025, and the contract for commercial HMO and POS plans expires on March 1, 2025.
Sutter and Anthem sent out a joint statement Thursday afternoon confirming they reached agreement for a new contract, effective Jan. 1, 2025.
“The agreement applies to Anthem Blue Cross members enrolled in Medi-Cal, Medicare Advantage, HMO, EPO and PPO health plans and provides continued in-network access to Sutter Health providers and facilities,” the statement said.
“Sutter Health is pleased to have reached a new agreement with Anthem, one that continues to ensure patients’ access to the doctors, nurses and clinicians they trust and the care they depend on,” Sutter President & CEO Warner Thomas said in a statement.
“We appreciate that Anthem sees the value in our commitment to improving access and broadening services while maintaining our relentless focus on quality. This includes plans underway to open dozens of new care centers and adding clinicians to our network — approximately 1,400 clinicians over the past two years — and investing in community clinics and organizations to improve overall community health.”
Beth Andersen, president of Anthem Blue Cross commercial plans, said in a statement: “We are pleased to continue our long-term relationship with Sutter. Our new agreement provides stability and certainty for our members and customers throughout the state and allows us to deepen our collaborative efforts with Sutter to improve health outcomes and provide access to high-quality, affordable care.”