Blue Shield of California and the University of California announced a new agreement Tuesday afternoon that both sides say will maintain patient access to university facilities statewide.
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Though the insurance company’s synopsis of the deal did not state a term, and Blue Shield declined to provide additional details Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President said that the pact is “for a three-year period that will avoid any gaps in access to our care for patients who are Blue Shield members.”
Those in health management organization plans have been the most concerned about the situation after thousands across the state received new medical identification cards that assigned them to different primary care doctors, essentially signaling that the two sides were far enough apart in negotiations that the insurer deemed it prudent to begin making alternate arrangements.
Blue Shield said Tuesday that it will take steps to unwind that action.
“With the approval of the Department of Managed Health Care, Blue Shield is in the process of reassigning HMO members back to their UC Health primary care providers, effective July 10, 2025,” the company said. “Those members will not need to call Blue Shield to keep their UC Health primary care providers.
“HMO members can change their primary care provider at any time by calling the number on the back of their insurance card.”
But while the situation appears to be resolved, both sides included language indicating that this deal is not technically complete. Blue Shield said that the new contract is “pending the completion of formal contract renewal documents and necessary Department of Managed Health Care approvals.”
The university said that it expects to complete final contract details in the coming weeks. And, it appears that there are still areas where the two sides have work to do.
“Though the network agreement is settled, we continue to work with Blue Shield — as we do with other health plans — to address ongoing challenges with delayed claims processing and reimbursement for care already provided to our patients,” the university said.
Blue Shield is a major option for beneficiaries of the California Employees’ Retirement System with some accounts estimating that about 35,000 state retirees in Blue Shield plans get their care from university health systems statewide.