In a move it says is designed to lower costs and improve quality, UnitedHealthcare plans to cut hospital reimbursement rates for patients at any of five Continuum hospitals in New York by 50 percent should those hospitals not notify UnitedHealthcare within 24 hours of a patient's admission. The hospitals involved believe that such actions ultimately would be detrimental to patients. Continuum chief contract negotiator Ruth Levin thinks the move is one that ultimately points to cost cutting. "It's the ridiculous punitive nature of this," Levin said. "If we provide a medically necessary service, we should be paid at the medically necessary rate." FierceHealthcare