Adventist Health Hanford medical center image via Adventist Health Facebook page

Last year, Adventist Health notified Blue Shield of California that it would end the network relationship and negotiate a new contract for its hospital facilities. On Dec. 21, both parties reached a new agreement that provides Blue Shield members in-network access to Adventist hospitals.

Throughout 2023, negotiations took place with Adventist Health leadership to establish a new contract they said would be sufficient to cover the cost of providing access to quality health care and enable Blue Shield to offer competitively priced coverage to members.

On Dec. 5, Adventist Health announced it had dropped Blue Shield patients effective Dec. 1 over what hospital officials said were 11 months of failed reimbursement rate talks.

This applied to California Adventist Health facilities, including hospitals in Hanford, Reedley, Selma and Tulare.

Blue Shield had said it had reached the limit of what it was willing to pay. Terms of the new agreement weren’t immediately available. The new arrangement includes all 18 Adventist hospitals across California and is effective Dec. 1.

As a mission-driven health plan, our goal is for our members to have access to quality care that’s sustainably affordable,” said Aliza Arjoyan, Blue Shield’s senior vice president of provider partnerships and network management. “Adventist Health has been a part of Blue Shield’s network of providers for a long time, and I look forward to continued collaboration with the hospital system.”

Blue Shield serves more than 4.8 million members in California through network relationships with about 350 hospitals and more than 122,000 providers across the state.

“We are pleased to continue our long-working relationship with Blue Shield of California,” says Kerry L. Heinrich, president and CEO of Adventist Health. “Our mission calls us to provide access to high-quality care close to home in the communities we serve, and we are excited to continue caring for Blue Shield members.”