In the past year, Schneck Medical Center officials have had conversations with Anthem concerning the Seymour hospital’s current contract.

On Sept. 2, they received an unexpected contract termination notice from Anthem, a provider of health insurance.

During a recent Schneck board of trustees meeting, Dr. Eric Fish, president and chief executive officer, said the contract requires a 180-day notification, and if a mutually beneficial agreement is not negotiated, the contract will expire at 11:59 p.m. March 1, 2021.

“Anthem’s current offer would threaten the health of our hospital going forward and more importantly the health of our entire community,” Fish said. “As we continue to experience significant financial challenges due to the COVID pandemic, we find it’s very disingenuous of Anthem to request cuts from its provider partners while they reported record profits.”

Fish said hospital officials are urging Anthem to rescind the termination notice so they can negotiate in good faith toward a new agreement.

“While it is our desire to continue our relationship with Anthem, we have to protect the quality of care our patients rely on, which is why we cannot accept the cuts that they are offering,” he said. “In order to be strong for both our patients and our communities, we need fair contracts with payors like Anthem.”

Fish said Schneck has been a good steward.

“As we have talked here a number of times of our financial resources while we continue to grow access to high-quality care, we took proactive steps earlier this year to lower our lab rates with all of our payors,” he said. “In addition, over the last five years, we’ve been well below our allowed contractual increases with Anthem.”

So what does the unexpected news from Anthem mean for Schneck patients?

“Right now, it is important to note nothing changes for our patients,” Fish said. “They need to continue and should continue to visit the facilities and providers as they normally would. Our patients depend on our trusted physicians, providers and our services. We’re dedicated to continuing to protect our access, which is what’s most important to us, and we do remain committed to reaching a new agreement with Anthem.”

Board President Rick Smith thanked Fish for the update.

“We’ll continue to seek progress,” Smith said.