Nantz: Valley Health 'in good financial shape'

At its annual corporation meeting on Tuesday, Valley Health President and CEO Mark Nantz updated stakeholders on the health system's recently resolved multi-million dollar lawsuit against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, saying he is "very optimistic" about 2024 contract negotiations with the health insurance provider.

"We came to an agreement over the lawsuit, so the lawsuit is settled. That was a key step for us to begin to negotiate the new contract," Nantz said. "I am very optimistic based on the work we were able to do in the lawsuit that we will be able to come to an agreement on the new contract."

Failure to renew the contract, which is set to expire Dec. 31, would impact approximately 55,000 Anthem patients who seek care at Valley Health facilities each year. Those insured by Anthem would be out-of-network with Valley Health if negotiations toward a new contract prove unsuccessful.

Nantz said negotiations toward a 2024 contract will begin shortly.

"So more to come on that, and I appreciate your patience. I know that is a difficult thing for the community to deal with, but it's also a very difficult thing for us when we are not getting paid for the services that we are providing."

Terms of the lawsuit's settlement remain confidential. In October 2022, Valley Health sued Anthem to recoup $11.4 million in past due payments. Though initially filed in Winchester Circuit Court, the suit advanced to federal court and increased to $15 million. Several weeks ago, both parties agreed to settle the suit over unpaid reimbursements.

Valley Health, based in Winchester, operates six hospitals in the region, including Winchester Medical Center on Amherst Street and Warren Memorial Hospital in Front Royal and Shenandoah Memorial in Woodstock, along with more than 60 medical practices and Urgent Care centers, and other health-care related facilities. It serves a population of approximately 500,000, according to a press release, in the northern Shenandoah Valley, the Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, and western Maryland.

Some of the Valley Health's operational statistics for the 2022 calendar year — which provides a glimpse into the scope of its presence in the region — include 29,000 hospital admissions, 140,000 emergency department visits, 17,000 surgical cases and 2,500 births.

Nantz said Valley Health is in good financial standing, even a return to pre-pandemic levels in some cases.

According to a presentation on the system's key financials at the meeting, Valley Health had $1.7 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, $71.8 million for 2022's excess revenues over expenses, a reserve fund balance of $600 million, with debt to capitalization at 32%. That earned the not-for-profit an A-1 rating by Moody's and an A+ by S&P Global, Nantz said.

"We are in good financial shape. We have had challenging years. The entire industry has had a challenging three years, but we are still in very good shape," Nantz said. "Things are coming back. There are indications that things in fact are returning to normal, and normal looks a lot like 2019. So that's something we're pretty excited about. Again, continuing to recover."

Partnering with community organizations on health initiatives, Valley Health's combined investment in community health from 2019 to 2021 totaled $497 million, said Dr. Jeff Feit, Valley Health Chief and Population and Community Health Officer.

These Valley Health operations have received recognition for clinical excellence, said Nantz:

Winchester Medical Center and Warren Memorial Hospital again earned "A" grades for hospital safety from the Leapfrog Group. They are the highest graded hospitals in the northern Shenandoah Valley/Eastern Panhandle region

The Heart and Vascular Center at WMC was named one of the nation's top 50 cardiovascular hospitals by Fortune and PINC AI

U.S. News & World Report named WMC a 2022-2023 High Performing Hospital for 12 procedures and conditions, including heart attack and hip and knee replacement

WMC maintained Level II Trauma Center designation following a triennial site survey

Shenandoah Memorial Hospital was again recognized as one of the nation's Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals by the Chartis Center for Rural Health

"This is breaking news. The Leap Frog organization rates hospitals. They assign you these grades based on data that you have, and only about 38% of the hospitals in Virginia have a grade A rating," Nantz said.