California Health Net terminated agreements with all six of Tenet Healthcare’s Southern California hospitals: Desert Regional Medical Center, Fountain Valley Hospital and Medical Center, John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center, and Placentia Linda Hospital. Health Net and Tenet Healthcare were nearing the end of a three-year contract. “The decision to proceed with the termination process was difficult. We had no choice, however, as Tenet Healthcare has refused our requests to negotiate a new contract that more accurately reflects statewide market conditions,” said Steve Sell, president of Health Net’s Western Region Health Plan.
Health Net says that Tenet’s reimbursement should be in line with the medical consumer price index, which averages more than 3%, and that reimbursement for state- and federally funded programs like Medi-Cal should be consistent with the funding for those programs. In recent discussions for a new contract, Health Net and Tenet have been unsuccessful in reaching agreement on reimbursement amounts. “Our goal is to help preserve affordable benefits for our customers, not pass along inflated health care costs,” said Sell.
