An abrupt policy change made last week by health care provider Providence briefly sent a local urgent care spiraling, though a Providence executive says that the change is mostly administrative. 

Redwood Urgent Care received a notice from Providence last Wednesday, July 15, informing them that Providence employees on its company health insurance plan, and patients who receive primary care via an HMO that has a Providence Medical Group clinic in its network, have to get permission from that HMO  or Providence’s health insurance carrier before being treated at Redwood Urgent Care to have their visits covered by insurance. 

[Correction, 7/22: a previous version of this article said that Providence employees on the company health insurance plan are also affected. They are not. The Outpost regrets the error.]

Redwood Urgent Care isn’t contracted with Providence. Affected patients that use another urgent care clinic that does have a Providence contract don’t need the prior authorization before being treated there, but Redwood Urgent Care is the only one of its kind in Humboldt County. (OpenDoor has a “same-day appointment clinic,” which a spokesman clarified isn’t the same thing.)

The change affects around 1,800 people in Humboldt County who are treated through the HMO Western Health Advantage, said Providence Medical Group & Clinical Network Regional Chief Executive Bob Just through a spokesperson.

Providence is “financially responsible” to keep prices down for members of that HMO, Just said, and keeping as many urgent care visits in-network as possible keeps the prices lower for both Providence and their patients. It’s unlikely that the policy adjustment will harm anyone, Just claimed. Providence’s patients have same-day access to a primary care physician on weekdays, he said, plus telehealth care from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day of the week. 

“If a patient needs to utilize an urgent care facility when primary care or telemedicine services are not available, then services would typically be approved if an authorization is submitted,” Just wrote in a statement to the Outpost. 

If not, patients have to pay out-of-pocket, or use Providence’s emergency room at St. Joseph Hospital. The cost of treatment at an emergency room is typically more expensive than at an urgent care.