Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics is here to care for anyone who needs it, regardless of their insurance coverage. Our commitment to patient care and safety as our top priority has been the fundamental element we take into all our contract negotiations, including the current one with Kaiser Permanente.
When Kaiser Permanente members seek care at our facilities, they are understandably concerned about their financial responsibility. We want to provide clear and accurate communication to alleviate their anxiety and uncertainty as much as possible. In order to do that and to show our willingness to negotiate and partner with Kaiser, we sent Kaiser the below talking points we provided our staff for their interactions with Kaiser-insured patients. Kaiser refused to verify our statements or offer different language in order to provide one clear message to our shared patients.
To patients seeking care in our emergency department or labor and delivery:
“Taking care of you is what’s most important right now, and we are here to help. I don’t have specific information about your coverage. Questions should be directed to Kaiser Permanente member services. No matter what, we are here to care for you.”
To other patients seeking to schedule care in other areas:
“I want to let you know that Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics is currently out-of-network for Kaiser Permanente. You can still receive care here, but questions about patient financial responsibilities should be directed to Kaiser Permanente member services. We are sorry for this inconvenience.
At this point, we have received no guidance from Kaiser Permanente regarding how we should jointly communicate to their patients about their coverage.
On Friday, Kaiser took out a full-page, full-color ad in the Statesman Journal to attack Salem Health. Salem Health does not negotiate its contracts in the public arena. We will pause negotiations with Kaiser until they have finished with their public relations stunts and are willing to come back to the negotiation table with patient-center care at the forefront of any kind of agreement.
We value the partnership of our local Kaiser Permanente providers and we will continue to work alongside them caring for our patients.