Regence faces union fallout

The union that represents Boeing engineers said Thursday it was taken by surprise that a Regence BlueShield decision to drop hundreds of doctors from a Boeing health plan affected thousands of workers.

Now union leaders are meeting with officials from Boeing and Regence to try to resolve the ensuing flap caused by union members being told their family doctors lack the "quality and efficiency" to remain in the plan.

"It'll take a little bit of time to work out because people are emotionally charged on this now," said Cynthia Cole, president of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA).

The union had expected that a couple of hundred Boeing workers might lose their doctors after the union and Boeing last year negotiated a new contract that included developing a "performance-based" health-care network.

Instead, about 8,000 people, affecting about a third of SPEEA's 18,000 member households, were told they were losing their doctors, she said, and many reacted strongly. The e-mails have been pouring in.

"I challenge you to do the right thing and suspend the implementation of this outrageous effort," wrote one employee, whose children's doctor of 11 years was excluded from the new Select Network Plan. "It is not in the best interest of the Boeing employees and their families or The Boeing Company."

The state medical association this week demanded that Regence suspend the exclusion of about 500 doctors from the Select Network Plan, saying Regence should apologize for letters telling patients their doctors were being dropped for "quality" reasons.

The doctors say the Regence system of measuring doctor performance is a mystery but that it appears that Regence is more concerned with how much doctors cost than with whether they give good health care. Many patients said highly competent doctors were excluded.

Regence President Mary McWilliams said quality is an important part of the rating system.

She said the ratings are based only on billing data, because "that's the current best available method to do this analysis."

The Select Network Plan was developed after the new contract was signed to give Boeing a high-quality, cost-efficient plan, McWilliams said, adding that other large companies have expressed interest.

"We recognize this is not a perfect science, but the employers cannot wait for perfect information," she said.

The revised plan, which will begin July 1 for Boeing engineers and technical workers, has no monthly premium for employees, no deductibles and $10 office co-payments. In exchange for those benefits, it does not cover out-of-network providers, except in emergencies.

Boeing workers have until June 2 to choose the Select plan or join a more expensive Regence network that will allow them to see out-of-network providers but will require them to pay more out of pocket.

"I don't discount it is distressing to face changing physicians or higher costs," McWilliams said.

"At the same time, some major employers feel we need to do more to increase the quality and efficiency of the whole health-care system."

Tim Neale, a Boeing spokesman, said the company's goal in establishing the new Select Network was to establish criteria for measuring quality, just as it would with any supplier, in addition to controlling costs.

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com