By Kevin Unger, CEO, Poudre Valley Hospital
A new mother holds her baby at Poudre Valley Hospital.
Health care in northern Colorado is changing, and with that come questions from people in our community who wonder what it means for them.
Your relationship with your doctor is important. It may even be one of the most important relationships you have outside of your family.
Just think: Would you change insurance coverage if it meant you couldn’t have your next baby in Fort Collins? If it meant you’d have to drive to another city to see a specialist you could otherwise see in town?
That’s why we’re encouraging patients and community members to make sure their doctor will still be covered under their insurance plan. Or, if they’re considering changing insurance plans, make sure the new plan will allow them to see the doctor or doctors with whom they’ve built a relationship.
With that in mind, here are a couple of questions we’ve been hearing lately:
Question: Are Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies covered under Kaiser Permanente insurance?
Answer: No, except for emergency visits. Otherwise, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland are not in the Kaiser network. Procedures and services at these hospitals would not be covered under Kaiser insurance.
Q: Is my Poudre Valley Medical Group / Colorado Health Medical Group doctor covered by Kaiser insurance?
A: No. Colorado Health Medical Group (formerly Poudre Valley Medical Group) doctors are not covered by Kaiser insurance. Patients with Kaiser insurance would pay out-of-network prices to continue to see Colorado Health Medical Group doctors.
Many of northern Colorado’s independent physicians are not covered by Kaiser insurance. If you are a patient at Associates in Family Medicine, Fort Collins Family Physicians or Colorado Health Medical Group, for example, you would not be covered at in-network rates by Kaiser insurance.
If you’ve got questions about your coverage, call your doctor. It’s your doctor, and it should be your choice.
Kevin Unger is the president and CEO of Poudre Valley Hospital
I guess it’s not really your choice when UCHealth decides to close your physician’s office as it did in the case of Dr. Cloyd, Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Hayes, a thriving, longtime practice with 2,562 patients. I guess those patients can now choose Kaiser easily.
Deb – I couldn’t agree more. Am up at 1am (have new baby) and am working on a letter to the editor of the Coloradoan to express my sadness, displeasure, etc. Am going to start a facebook page also…Will post name on this page for others to know about. Why didn’t they just leave our wonderful doctors alone??? Makes no sense to me, and the only explanation I got, as I asked all summer, was that it was a “business decision”. $
If you visit McKee Hospital in Loveland you are covered by Kaiser. This goes for Northern Colorado Medical Center as well.
Please see FB page “Thank you Drs Kieft Cloyd Hoffman & Hayes” to share your stories about these wonderful Doctors and let them know how much we will miss them!!!