Tentative contract breakthrough appears to resolve University of California, Blue Cross split

Anthem Blue Cross and the University of California have reached a preliminary contract agreement that both sides say should allow patients to continue seeing their current doctors. An estimated 600,000 patients at university health systems statewide are affected by the announcement that UC called “preliminary” and Anthem said is an agreement “in principle,” which still must be finalized.

Anthem has once again extended the current contract between the two parties, pushing its expiration date to April 1. It was set to expire on March 1. That date was itself an extension. The contract was originally set to end on Dec. 31.

Anthem began notifying its customers enrolled in HMO policies with UC doctors in January that they had 60 days to find new physicians. Notices affected about 9,000 beneficiaries in San Diego County, though it was likely that the number would be much larger if the impasse was not resolved. Nearly 100,000 in the region were said to be on Anthem preferred provider organization plans and would also have lost access to UC doctors, though the health plan was not required to give them 60-day notice.

While it appeared that compensation for services rendered and other factors such as prior approval of medical procedures were main negotiating points in the stalemate, neither side said Tuesday exactly what factor resulted in the breakthrough.

“We are grateful that there should not be disruption for patients, and they will be able to continue receiving care from the physicians, hospitals and clinics of their choice,” UC San Diego said in a statement.

“This underscores our mutual commitment to providing Anthem's consumers and employers with access to high quality, affordable care at UC Health,” Anthem's statement said.

An analysis of UC San Diego's Anthem patient population served in 2022 and 2023 performed by the university found that about 60,000 patients received primary care, 5,000 received cancer care, 800 were transplant patients and about 6,400 received orthopedic care.