Adventist Health Hanford medical center image via Adventist Health Facebook page

California-based health care provider Adventist Health announced last week that it has terminated its working contract with Blue Shield of California following 11 months of negotiations in which neither party was able to reach an agreement.

As of Dec. 1, patients with health insurance under Blue Shield of California are unable to use their coverage at California Adventist Health facilities, including hospitals in Hanford, Reedley, Selma and Tulare.

Additional Adventist Health location across the state will see their Blue Shield contracts expire through spring 2024.

The termination impacts Blue Shield PPO/EPO/HMO, Medicare Advantage PPO/HMO, and Medi-Cal Managed Care HMO patients.

A news release from Adventist on Dec. 1 announced the contract termination and provided users with frequently asked questions and responses for those concerned about how the status will affect them. They also provided reasoning for the termination of the contract.

“After 11 months of negotiations, Adventist health was unable to reach a fair agreement to continue as an in-network participating provider with Blue Shield of California,” the press release said.

Blue Shield of California issued its own news release Tuesday confirming the expired contract, also citing the 11 months of stalemated negotiations.

“Throughout 2023, we have been negotiating in good faith with Adventist Health leadership to establish a new contract that was sufficient to cover the cost of providing access to quality health care and that would enable us to offer competitively priced coverage to our members.,” wrote Patty Gonzalez, VP, Network Management and Provider Partnerships.

“Unfortunately, Adventist Health’s requests did not make that possible.”

Earlier this year, Blue Cross and Community Regional Medical Centers faced a similar situation, with a six-month gap in coverage for patients starting last January.

As of June 30, Blue Cross insurance was once again accepted at Community Regional Medical Centers.

A message left with Blue Shield’s media line has not been answered as of the publishing of this story.