Dear Northern Colorado Business Owners:

The Independent Physician Practices listed below would like to collectively raise your awareness level regarding some important changes in the healthcare insurance market. Most of our practices have proudly served Fort Collins and Northern Colorado for decades working closely with Poudre Valley Health System and other independent outpatient facilities.  Most of our practices have contracts with all the major insurance companies that have dominated the market. With rare exception, this has allowed our patients to maintain their choice of physicians regardless of the type of insurance coverage their employer chooses. New entrants to the market, such as the Kaiser Permanente HMO product, are a dramatic departure from the norm as they provide significant restrictions on physician and facility choice.

Unlike most of the major insurance carriers, Kaiser Permanente has opted to open new primary care offices and have not offered contracts to the large existing primary care practices in Fort Collins. Kaiser also has an exclusive relationship with Banner Health Care so the patients, excluding emergency situations, will not be allowed to use Poudre Valley Hospital or Medical Center of the Rockies. Although Kaiser is contracting with some local specialty physician groups, many specialists in Fort Collins that practice out of PVHS facilities have not been offered contracts.

What will this mean to your employees and family members?

  • Patients who have longstanding relationships with primary care physicians will be forced to see a new physician.  Kaiser currently lists 4 primary care physicians at their new Fort Collins location so patient’s choice of physicians will be very limited.
  • Patients will not be able to see many local specialty physicians and may be required to travel outside the area for specialty care.  
  • Patients will need to travel, or be transported, to Loveland, Greeley, or Denver for hospitalizations. This will represent a huge inconvenience to patients and families.
  • Patients may not be able to use local Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Imaging Centers and Urgent Care facilities. These facilities provide excellent, cost effective, convenient medical care.

We encourage all employers to carefully consider the well-being of your employees prior to selecting a restrictive closed network product. Employers that choose very limited closed networks will have some very unhappy employees. We highly recommend talking with your employees about this matter before choosing a closed network option.

We want to be clear that we welcome competition in the healthcare market, and we are in no way acting together to restrict any insurance company, product, or provider from entering into the marketplace. Each practice independently negotiates with insurance companies for contracts.

The administrative offices at any of the practices listed would be happy to answer any questions regarding their respective contracts with any insurance carrier.

Sincerely,

James A. Sprowell, MD
CEO, Associates in Family Medicine, PC		 Karen Masterson
Northern Colorado Allergy & Asthma Clinic
Scott Kenyon, MHA, FACMPE
Women’s Clinic of Northern Colorado		 Karen Hayes, DO
A Woman’s Place, PC
Larry Mortensen, Executive Director
Fort Collins Youth Clinic, PC		 W. Sean Conlon, MD
Alpha ENT Clinic
John David Cranor, MD
President, Rocky Mountain Family Physicians		 Gary A Johnson, Administrator
Northern Colorado Surgical Associates, PC
Nancy Timmons, MSHA, CMPE
Front Range Center for Brain & Spine Surgery, PC		 Art Sands, MD
Northern Colorado Primary Care and Wellness Center