Julie Peters is a stay-at-home mother of three from Woodland and one of 17,000 Yolo County residents who lost access to her health care provider two months ago.
Peters’ family is covered by Partnership HealthPlan of California and has been stuck on a waitlist at another health care facility for the past two months after Dignity Health and Partnership decided to terminate their contract in April.
She is employed as an In home Supportive Services care provider for her 4-year-old son, Kurt, who has been diagnosed with autism and has lost access to therapy sessions that were provided by Dignity Health.
“My youngest is due for her vaccinations at the end of this month, so I’m not sure what we’re going to do for that,” Peters said concerning her 1-year-old daughter. “We don’t have anyone to take the kids to in case they get sick. They just said… if the kids get sick to take them to urgent care.”
The two health care organizations finalized a multi-year contract that allows Partnership members to receive services from Dignity Health providers again effective June 1, according to a press release.
Peters, 28, and her husband Jared didn’t receive letters or emails letting them know about this. They found out through a social media post on Facebook instead.
“They’ve just been keeping everyone in the dark and just thinking that we would stay quiet about it,” she asserted.
The situation has made the Peters family worried that this might happen again and that they’ll be stuck on another waitlist for an indefinite amount of time.
“I just feel like after this whole headache, is this going to happen again?” Peters stressed. “I’ve been on the phone so much and everyone’s just kind of giving you the runaround like nobody really cares or has an answer for you.”
However, she noted that her family doesn’t have a choice because In Home Support Services is a Medi-Cal program and she is “stuck with what the state gives [her.]”
“Even if I just wanted to switch from Dignity to Hansen within Partnership, I’m on a waitlist,” she added. “It’s not like I can just go get a different doctor.
“I understand and I know that there’s so many of us who are going through it right now, especially if you have a disability or children with a disability. We don’t know where we’re going to get our medication from. I feel like this is pretty unfair.”
Dr. Robert Quinn, president and CEO of Dignity Health Medical Foundation, explained that the compensation issues negotiated in the new contract were driven by “dramatic medical inflation, labor and drug costs, and other costs over the last several years coming out of COVID.”
Together, Quinn argued that the two negotiating teams found a financial model that provides “long-term sustainability for both sides.”
Although he acknowledged that patients are upset with how the situation was handled, he expressed optimism that Dignity Health could regain their trust because of its reputation in the region.
“Our providers have served these communities for generations fostering strong bonds both at the hospital and in the clinic,” he remarked. “In many cases, an interruption of a few months in the context of years of built trust is an issue, but it’s something that we’ll overcome fairly quickly.”
When asked about the effectiveness of a state mediator in the negotiation process and if Dignity Health would push for the use of one in the future, Quinn said he was not present in the negotiations and could not speak on that. However, he noted that he’s “not entirely positive a mediator would have facilitated the conversation.”
“I think it’s something to think about,” he added. “Both sides have to agree to a mediator and the mediator has to be comfortable with their knowledge, not just of the both sides but of the myriad of issues that are critical to both sides.”
In response to a suggestion Supervisor Lucas Frerichs, District 2, made regarding signing a short-term agreement while negotiating on a long-term contract to avoid health coverage loss for thousands, Quinn argued that the issues would remain the same.
“Oftentimes, the issues that make short-term agreements difficult are the same ones that make a long-term agreement difficult,” he said.
Dignity Health has also faced financial losses due to fewer people enrolling in commercial health plans and the fact that providers lose money when reimbursed by government health plans like Medicare and Medi-Cal.
“Our providers haven’t returned to pre-pandemic performance levels and staffing remains a challenge,” a statement from Dignity Health noted. “Coupled with years of record inflation, this situation necessitates prudent resource management to ensure our financial health. Sufficient increases in multi-year agreements are essential to cover annual inflationary increases, allow for equipment replacement and offer key services to our communities. Unfortunately, government funding hasn’t kept pace with these costs, which is the fundamental issue.”
Amy Turnipseed, chief strategy and government affairs officer for Partnership HealthPlan of California, argued that her organization’s top priority has been ensuring its members have access to high-quality health care.
“Partnership did our best to ensure former Dignity patients qualified for Continuity of Care and could receive treatment during this time,” she assured. “Now that Dignity is back in network, we will work together to ensure members get care from a trusted provider of their choice.”
Turnipseed also noted that this is the first time in the organization’s 30-year history that an agreement could not be reached with a large hospital system. She warned that Medi-Cal providers across the state might push for higher rates due to rising health care costs, state Medi-Cal rates staying relatively flat and a state budget deficit.
“Partnership prides itself on paying fair and competitive rates for the services provided with the government funding we receive,” she highlighted.
Furthermore, she claimed that Partnership and Dignity Health came to an agreement independently and did not need a mediator for the negotiations.
Supervisor Frerichs, who has been pushing for Dignity Health and Partnership to negotiate a contract since April, was “extremely relieved” that an agreement was reached. He argued that the lack of a contract extension upended the lives of nearly 17,000 Medi-Cal patients in Yolo County, many of whom are the county’s most vulnerable.
“The Yolo Board of Supervisors worked diligently to put appropriate pressure on both parties in order to facilitate an expedited resolution, and while it took nearly ten weeks, I’m grateful that a resolution had finally been reached,” he stated.
However, he hopes that both parties choose to sign a short-term agreement in the future to “avoid all the unnecessary turmoil we experienced this time around.”
Partnership members interested in returning to Dignity Health should contact Partnership members services at (800) 863-4155. Dignity Health will work with them to get patients back into their clinic unless they’d like to stay with their new providers.
