UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health CA1/5

Opinion

BRUINIERS, J.

Respondent UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust (UEBT) is a health care employee benefits trust governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.). (Id., § 1144(b)(2).) UEBT pays health care providers directly from its own funds for the services provided to enrollees in its health plans. As a self-funded payor, UEBT contracted with a “network vendor,” California Physicians’ Service (doing business as Blue Shield of California; hereafter Blue Shield), 1 to obtain access to Blue Shield’s provider network at the rates Blue Shield had…