St. John’s Hospitals End Pacificare Pact

St. John’s hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo have decided to terminate their contract with Pacificare, a move that would reroute all nonemergency Pacificare patients to neighboring Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura.

The decision comes after months of failed contract negotiations between the two health-care organizations, officials for both hospitals said.

Pacificare is a managed care health plan. It also operates Secure Horizons, a Medicare HMO.

St. John’s officials have been trying to raise the cost of Pacificare’s contract, saying that the current arrangement does not cover the cost of many services. Hospital spokeswoman Rita O’Connor also said there has been “a history of payment problems with Pacificare,” including delinquent payments.

Pacificare representatives said Friday that they were unaware of any payment problems, adding that St. John’s officials never notified them of any difficulties.

“If they found problems, we would encourage them to bring our attention to this,” said Meghan Crowley, spokeswoman for Pacificare.

Crowley said Pacificare representatives also agreed to a “double digit” increase in their current contract, but that St. John’s representatives turned down their offer.

Pacificare patients currently hospitalized at St. John’s will not be displaced for now, representatives for both hospitals said. And St. John’s will continue to see Pacificare patients for all emergencies.

O’Connor added that both sides are still talking and it is possible that the contract could be renewed.