In the eleventh hour before patients were about to feel the financial pinch, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon and Legacy Health hammered out a new contract. The deal was struck just before the stroke of midnight Sunday, preventing a healthcare headache for roughly 200,000 Oregonians. According to KATU News, had the negotiations fallen through, patients would have faced out-of-network fees with Legacy Health providers starting Monday.

This narrow miss of a significant cost surge for patients comes after weeks of tense negotiations between the two healthcare giants. Each side pointed fingers at the other, indicating a contract stalemate that seemed to forecast an imminent fallout. Oregonians insured by Regence were on the cusp of either digging deeper into their pockets or scrambling to find new providers. "The very real possibility" of the contracts’ termination left many in limbo, a situation Legacy Health warned about, reported by OregonLive.

Amid the public tussle, customers could only watch as the clock ticked down. In the end, Legacy Health announced on Sunday the sealing of a new deal with Regence. Merrin Permut, Legacy’s vice president and chief population health officer, breathed a sigh of relief saying, "This means Legacy providers and facilities will remain in-network for Regence and other BlueCross BlueShield members," in a statement that KPTV reported.

The squabble marks the second time this year Regence and a Portland-area health system have grappled publicly, landing at the brink of network expulsion for insured patients. The previous negotiations were no less nail-biting, stretching close to the deadline but ultimately reaching an agreement to keep healthcare access uninterrupted.