Blue Cross President Scott Ideson telephoned William Nelson, IHC's chief executive officer, Thursday morning to discuss allegations that Nelson berated a senior Blue Cross executive at a July 8 social function in Cedar City and other issues surrounding a legislative task force examining Utah's health care system.

The confrontation, reported in Thursday's Salt Lake Tribune, came one day after the task force co-chairman warned that intimidating witnesses who appear before the study group is against the law.

"Bill and I had a very productive and necessary conversation, which was an important step for working together," Ideson, who is traveling, said in a statement.

Added Nelson: "We both said, gosh, this cannot affect our relationship, and we need to move forward together. And we're set to do that."

As Utah's top two health insurers, IHC Health Plans and Blue Cross compete for customers. But IHC also owns hospitals and clinics visited by patients insured by Blue Cross.

At the meeting in southern Utah, Nelson allegedly threatened Kevin Bischoff, vice president for public and corporate affairs for Blue Cross, saying Blue Cross would lose business if its representatives continued to distort facts in testimony to the Privately Owned Health Care Organization Task Force.

Nelson also said he was frustrated Ideson had not called him to discuss what Blue Cross would tell the task force about their business relationship.

"He came over to me and he said, 'I'm really pissed off at Blue Cross,'" Bischoff told The Tribune. "He said, 'who is that girl who goes up and testifies for you guys? . . . She's up there, twisting the facts, and this has to stop. And you tell Scott Ideson if he doesn't have the balls to call me, if he's not man enough to call me, then our relationship is over.' " Most of Bischoff's characterization was confirmed by another Blue Cross executive who was present.

But Nelson claims Bischoff misrepresented his words during the flare-up, possibly to discredit him and IHC.

Minutes before Thursday's task force meeting, Nelson approached co-chairman Sen. Michael Waddoups to again defend himself against Bischoff's assertions.

"He vehemently denied using inappropriate language," Waddoups said after the meeting. "He doesn't understand how this happened. He said [Bischoff's claims] missed it completely."

The task force is examining IHC's not-for-profit, tax-exempt status and scrutinizing allegations of unfair practices to stifle competition and bully rivals. A day before the Cedar City dust-up, Waddoups warned people attending a task force meeting that harassing anyone testifying before the group would be committing a felony under state law.

On Thursday, Waddoups said the public airing of the IHC-Blue Cross dispute would probably make it unnecessary for him to issue another warning.

pbeebe@sltrib.com