UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, and the University of Vermont Health Network, the state’s largest health care provider, have finalized an agreement that ensures people insured by UnitedHealthcare can continue to use UVM Health Network as an in-network provider.
A dispute between the two organizations as their contract expired April 1 left an estimated 5,000 Vermonters wondering how they would be able to afford continuing care at UVM Health Network if UnitedHealthcare no longer considered the hospital system as in-network.
The agreement covers people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare and Oxford employer-sponsored plans. UVM Health Network also continues to remain in-network for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare supplemental coverage and veterans’ care were not affected by the contract dispute.
“We recognize and appreciate that the care UVM provides is not only important but also personal to our members, and we know the negotiations process has been difficult for them,” said UnitedHealthcare spokesperson Cole Manbeck in a statement. “Our top priority throughout this process was ensuring the people and employers we’re honored to serve in Vermont and New York have access to quality, more affordable health care, and this new agreement helps accomplish that goal.”
“We are glad that we were able to come to a renewal agreement with UnitedHealthcare for the benefit of their members who look to us for care,” said UVM Health Network spokesperson Annie Mackin in a statement. “We regret any disruption and stress caused by this protracted commercial negotiation.”
Mackin said that, in negotiations with health insurers, UVM Health Network has three main goals: obtain reasonable coverage of cost inflation, get relief from insurance company rules and procedures “that are contrary to excellent care and provider accountability,” and move toward value-based payments and away from fee-for-service.
Neither organization provided details of the contract and how it would affect patients seeking care at UVM Health Network.
Because UVM Health Network is dominant in northwestern Vermont, some patients sought care as far away as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, so they could be sure they would stay in-network and avoid massive fees.
The two sides fought over how much UnitedHealthcare would cover increased fees being charged by UVM Health Network.
The dispute affected patients getting care at UVM Medical Center in Burlington, Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin, Porter Medical Center in Middlebury and three hospitals in upstate New York, as well as their affiliated physicians.
Since April 1, both sides had kept extending their existing contract as they continued negotiations.
