Wal-Mart Expands Insurance Options With NW Health

Beginning on Jan. 1, the 15,000 Wal-Mart employees in Northwest Arkansas and their families will be able to use Northwest Medical System under their Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plan. That means the Wal-Mart employees will have access to another three hospitals and 18 clinics with their medical coverage.r

“This pretty much gives the employees access to us essentially at an equivalent price,” said Bill Bradley, CEO of Northwest Health System. “Based on feedback, Wal-Mart associates wanted access to Northwest Health’s facilities … None of the Blue Cross plans would allow them to come to this new facility or to Willow Creek or to Springdale under the old offering, and Wal-Mart employees live all over Northwest Arkansas.”r

In addition to providing more options for Wal-Mart employees, the deal will mean more revenue for Northwest Health, but Bradley said he can’t estimate how much more.r

Bradley estimates that the change in insurance coverage will affect 43,000 “covered lives” when the families of Wal-Mart employees are considered. Of course, not all of those people will choose Northwest Health, but many will.r

“Obviously, we anticipate having access to many more what you call covered lives in the insurance business,” Bradley said. “We expect an increase in our volume from this. We know that we’ll have many more Wal-Mart associates choose Northwest Health services, but it’s impossible to predict how many.”r

Dan Fogleman, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company couldn’t discuss details of the new insurance plan until a two-week open-enrollment program is completed with area employees in early October.r

A representative of Blue Cross also declined to talk about the nuts and bolts of the plan, saying it’s Wal-Mart’s prerogative to release that information.r

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CIGNA Optionr

Bradley said about 8 percent of area Wal-Mart employees were previously on a CIGNA insurance plan that was more expensive than the Blue Cross plan but allowed them to be treated at Northwest Health facilities. It was unclear whether the CIGNA plan would continue to be offered next year along with the expanded Blue Cross coverage.r

Bradley said Wal-Mart employees will have the choice between two Blue Cross plans next year: the Network Plan and the Network $ Saver Plan. Both of those plans are listed in Wal-Mart’s 2003 “Associate Benefits Book” without specifying what insurance company would administer the plans.r

“The $ Saver plan is much more restrictive,” Bradley said. “You have limited doctors and limited hospitals. We’re not in that one.”r

Bradley said the agreement to allow Wal-Mart employees to use Northwest Health through their Blue Cross insurance has been in the works for months.r

“We’ve always been interested in serving their associates and always expressed that interest,” Bradley said. “Now, there are enough requests from their associates that Wal-Mart decided it was the right thing to do.”r

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Northwest Healthr

Northwest Health is owned by Triad Hospitals Inc. of Dallas, which had $3.5 billion in revenue last year and net income of $141.5 million.r

Northwest operates Northwest Health Center hospitals in Springdale and Bentonville, as well as Willow Creek Women’s Hospital in Johnson. The system also includes 18 area clinics.r

Previously, Blue Cross was affiliated with Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and St. Mary’s Hospital in Rogers but not with the Springdale or Bentonville hospitals. So Northwest entered into a partnership with group-coverage network PremierCare Northwest, Arkansas’ largest provider-owned network with access to eight hospitals and 300 physicians in Washington, Benton, Carroll and Madison counties combined.r

On a daily basis, Northwest’s three hospitals and 18 clinics combined see 900 patients, deal with 175 emergency room visits, conduct 40 surgeries and deliver nine babies.r

Northwest Medical Center of Washington County is Northwest Health’s flagship hospital. The 383,627-SF facility in Springdale has 222 beds.r

Northwest Medical Center of Benton County is a 221,000-SF facility in Bentonville with 128 beds. It previously went by the name Bates Medical Center.r

Willow Creek Women’s Hospital — a 98,000-SF, 30-bed unit on I-540 in Johnson — became the system’s third hospital last year.r

According to Blue Cross, Northwest Medical Center of Washington County had $238 million in patient revenue and $131 million in net income for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002. Those numbers appear to include Northwest Health Center of Benton County because Blue Cross didn’t list that facility separately.r

Blue Cross listed Willow Creek Women’s Hospital with $11.9 million in patient revenue and a net loss of $4.6 million for 2001.r