UCHealth, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield partner to improve health care affordability in northwest Colorado

By:
April 22, 2019

 

A family walks outside in springtime.
Another option for health insurance is now available to residents in Routt County and northwest Colorado. Photo by Getty Images.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and UCHealth today announced a new partnership designed to provide more affordable health care for residents in Routt County and northwest Colorado.

The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Pathways HMO will offer competitive premiums for individual and employer-based insurance plans made possible by lower prices at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center (YVMC) and at UCHealth locations and other facilities on the Front Range should a patient need to leave the Yampa Valley for care.

Located in Steamboat Springs, YVMC is a 39-bed acute care hospital with a level 3 trauma center serving 51,000 patients annually.

“Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is a longtime, close partner of UCHealth, and this new offering will benefit those seeking another option for health care insurance,” said Dr. Tom Downes, interim chief executive officer at YVMC. “Anthem Pathways includes the local physician network in Steamboat Springs, allowing patients to continue to see their trusted, local providers.”

UCHealth and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Pathways HMO has been available on the insurance marketplace to individuals and businesses located on the Front Range. The continued relationship between Anthem and UCHealth now enables these affordable insurance options to be expanded to northwest Colorado to benefit self-insured employers and, pending approval from the Colorado Division of Insurance, to fully insured employers and individuals beginning Jan. 1, 2020.

“For 80 years, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has provided access to quality, affordable health care in Colorado, and we take this commitment to the people and communities we serve very seriously,” said Jeff Sepich, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “By collaborating closely with UCHealth, we can address the high cost of health care and work together to make the experience simpler for the consumer. The expanded reach of Anthem Pathways HMO will bring greater access to care and help make healthcare more affordable for individuals and businesses in northwest Colorado.”

“This is another way UCHealth is working to lower overall health care costs,” said Soniya Fidler, interim president of YVMC. “Over the last two years, we’ve lowered prices on MRIs, CTs, gastroenterology procedures and prices in our emergency department. We are committed to looking at ways we can continue lowering the cost of health care, be it through innovation, access to additional specialists or improving the overall health of our community.”

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Health insurance UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center

About the author

Lindsey Reznicek is a communications specialist at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She has spent the last ten years working in marketing and communications in health care, an industry she never considered but one to which she's contributed through her work in media relations, executive messaging and internal communications. She considers it an honor to interact with patients and write about their experiences; it’s what keeps her coming back to work each day.

A native of Nebraska, Lindsey received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, with a focus on public relations, from the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University – she bleeds purple.

She could see a Broadway musical every week, is a huge animal lover, enjoys a good shopping trip, and likes spending time in the kitchen. Lindsey and her husband have two daughters and enjoy hiking in the summer and skiing all winter long.