{"id":675922,"date":"2026-05-31T11:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T11:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/675922\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T11:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T11:39:14","slug":"premera-blue-cross-multicare-extend-negotiation-deadline-to-june-30-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/675922\/","title":{"rendered":"Premera Blue Cross, MultiCare extend negotiation deadline to June 30 | Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premera Blue Cross and MultiCare Health Systems have extended the deadline to reach an agreement on reimbursement costs, meaning the hospitals, clinics and providers will remain in network for Premera plan members through the end of June.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing a direct engagement between our respective CEOs, Premera and MultiCare have reached a verbal agreement to extend our current contract while negotiations continue,\u201d the Washington-based insurer posted Friday afternoon on its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that MultiCare will remain in network for members with Premera health plans until at least June 30.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, Premera notified its members<\/a> both online and via a mailed letter that MultiCare issued a contract termination notice with the insurer, effective May 31, unless a new agreement is reached between the two companies.<\/p>\n

The termination notice is for insurance plan members on commercial (employee-sponsored) and individual plans. They do not affect Premera members with Medicare supplement coverage.<\/p>\n

In its online statement, Premera management called the contract extension \u201cmeaningful progress\u201d that demonstrates both sides\u2019 commitment toward reaching a resolution to the reimbursement dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a final agreement, and there are still real differences to work through,\u201d the Premera statement noted. \u201cBut this extension provides more time and space for Premera and MultiCare to continue negotiating and work toward an agreement that fairly compensates our provider partner and ensures our members have access to quality care at a price they can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

The out-of-network designation, which would have taken effect June 1, would apply to all MultiCare facilities across Washington, including MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital and associated medical facilities.<\/p>\n

Based in Tacoma, MultiCare operates 13 hospitals and more than 300 primary, urgent, pediatric and specialty care locations across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The not-for-profit health care system acquired Yakima Memorial Hospital in fall 2022.<\/p>\n

MultiCare officials told the Yakima Herald-Republic that reimbursement levels from insurance companies like Premera must be enough to meet its costs.<\/p>\n

Officials said that while Premera is one the largest commercial insurers for its patients, its reimbursement rates have not kept pace with the hospital group\u2019s rising costs driven by inflation, workforce needs and the investments necessary to preserve MultiCare\u2019s services and long-term stability.<\/p>\n

A similar contract dispute occurred two years ago, as Premera Blue Cross members were notified in May 2024 of the company\u2019s negotiations with MultiCare. The two companies reached an agreement before their contract lapsed.<\/p>\n

MultiCare also remains in negotiations with Regence Blue Shield over reimbursement issues. The two companies failed to reach a contract agreement<\/a> by their May 10 deadline, meaning MultiCare facilities in Yakima and two other Washington counties are now out-of-network for patients covered by Regence employer-sponsored health insurance plans.<\/p>\n

The Regence-MultiCare impasse does not affect Regence Medicare plan members.<\/p>\n

MultiCare officials noted their company cares for about 10,000 Regence patients in Yakima.<\/p>\n

A letter sent to Regence customers last month about the potential contract termination lists 23 Yakima County providers associated with MultiCare, including MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital and numerous facilities, including Children\u2019s Village, Orthopedics Northwest, Lakeview, North Star Lodge and Ohana Mammography Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premera Blue Cross and MultiCare Health Systems have extended the deadline to reach an agreement on reimbursement costs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253,5829],"class_list":["post-675922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-yhr-reporters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}