Thursday, August 1, 2019

UnitedHealthcare, UAB reach deal


Updated Jul 31, 1:03 PM;Posted Jul 31, 12:43 PM
UnitedHealthcare and UAB have reached an agreement, the day the UAB Health System was to stop accepting the insurance.
Statements from both United and UAB said the two companies have agreed to a new two-year partnership “that enables Alabama residents enrolled in UnitedHealthcare commercial and Medicare Advantage health plans to have continued access to all UAB facilities and physicians,” United said.
The two organizations will work together for the next two weeks to finalize the agreement. During that period, United policy holders can continue to receive care at UAB entities without any interruption.
“We recognize that the care UAB provides is not only important but also personal to our members, and we understand the negotiation process may have been difficult for them,” a statement from United said. “Our top priority throughout this process was ensuring the members we’re honored to serve in Alabama have access to quality, affordable health care, and we appreciate UAB’s collaboration in helping achieve this outcome.”
United was set to stop being accepted at most UAB entities, excluding emergency rooms, beginning July 31 after the two companies failed to reach a contract agreement. Approximately 25,000 policyholders were going to be affected by the situation.
“We are pleased that we were able to reach an agreement with United Healthcare that will allow us to continue in our mission to provide the highest quality health care to their policy holders in Alabama,” UAB Health System CEO Will Ferniany said Wednesday.
“As the flagship hospital for the state, we provide medical services that no other healthcare facility can provide and we are committed to offering our services to everyone in the state of Alabama," he said.
Ferniany said previously that United “forced” UAB into the situation, adding that UAB had tried to make concessions to work with United but the insurance company refused to budge on their conditions. “We haven’t had these kinds of problems with any other provider but United,” he said then.
Last month, the UAB Health System sent out 40,000 letters to patients who went to a UAB entity in the past two years with United insurance to notify them they soon could have to pay out-of-pocket costs if no agreement was reached.

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