A monthslong contract dispute between HCA Healthcare and UnitedHealthcare has been resolved just hours before a Sept. 1 deadline would have interrupted network coverage for members in four states.
Thirty-eight hospitals plus their affiliated locations and physician groups within HCA’s Texas, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Denver markets would have been affected had the industry juggernauts not struck an accord.
“After months of negotiations, we have reached agreement with UnitedHealthcare,” HCA Healthcare said in an emailed statement. “This means UnitedHealthcare plan members and their families will continue to have access to the convenient and quality healthcare they have come to expect from our care teams.”
The multiyear deal applies to employer-sponsored commercial plans and Medicare Advantage plans, as well as other market-specific plans, according to UnitedHealthcare webpages where the company had previously detailed the dispute. Certain plans have also had access extended to additional facilities and providers.
The webpages and mailers sent by UnitedHealthcare had outlined rate increase demands as high as 30% over two years, in South Carolina, or 16% in a single year, in Texas. The insurer’s messaging had also listed other providers in the region where members could still received covered care should negotiations fall through.
HCA had reportedly pushed back on what it described as a mischaracterization of the demands and said the insurer had proposed below-market rates for many hospitals.
HCA is among the nation’s largest healthcare provider organizations with 186 hospitals and about 2,400 care sites. In 2023, it logged $65 billion in total revenues and $5.2 billion of net income.
UnitedHealthcare, meanwhile, is the nation’s largest private health insurer. Its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, notched about $370 billion of revenue and a $22.4 billion profit last year.
The payer has seen several of its contract negotiations spill into the public over the past several months, as was the case with Mount Sinai and, more recently, Trinity Health of New England.
HCA Healthcare also wasn’t the only system staring down a Sept. 1 contract deadline. As of Sunday, UF Health in Florida is no longer in network with the major insurer after the pair couldn’t come to terms.