PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center says it has refused a huge health insurance company’s request that the hospital raise its rates by 10 percent and then discount the charges for the company’s members.
Premera Blue Cross, Washington’s largest health insurance provider, also threatened to cut its contract with OMC unless the hospital gives it what it wants by June 30, according to Eric Lewis, the hospital’s chief financial officer.
Medical center administrators still said no, and hospital commissioners backed them at their meeting Wednesday.
Premera denied Lewis’ allegations.
Bill Akers, the insurance firm’s vice president for health care delivery systems, Thursday said, “We do not ask our providers to raise their prices. We did not ask Olympic to raise its prices.
“Hospitals are in full control of what they charge.”
Nevertheless, Lewis said Mark Forsythe, who handles OMC’s Premera account, had made the request and leveled the threat.
“Yeah, he did,” Lewis said Thursday.
Told of Akers’ denial, Lewis said, “It probably will help us resolve the issue by taking it to a higher level at Premera.
“What they were doing is wrong, and now they have an opportunity to fix it.”
