Unlike its contentious public dispute with another health insurer, Farmington-based UConn Health has reached an agreement on a new contract with UnitedHealthcare.
The health system announced late Wednesday that it had reached a new multiyear agreement a little more than three weeks before the existing contract was set to expire on Jan. 31.
In a presentation to its board of trustees in December, UConn Health said the UnitedHealthcare contract covers more than 27,000 patients.
UConn Health CEO Dr. Andrew Agwunobi said the new agreement “demonstrates what is possible when insurers and providers work together to protect patient access while fairly compensating the institutions that deliver care.”
The comment about fair compensation refers to UConn Health’s contentious negotiations over a new contract with Aetna Inc. that has failed to reach a new agreement.
The previous three-year contract expired at midnight on Nov. 30, removing UConn Health from Aetna’s network for thousands of patients, though for some patients a 60-day grace period is in effect until it expires at the end of January.
The main point of dispute in the negotiations with Aetna was UConn Health’s claim that it receives “some of the lowest commercial reimbursement rates of any hospital in Connecticut.”
Aetna, which is owned by Rhode Island-based CVS Health, responded by claiming that UConn Health “wants to be one of the most expensive health systems in New England.”
In announcing the new contract with UnitedHealthcare, UConn Health again stressed that it has “historically been reimbursed by some insurers at rates among the lowest in Connecticut,” adding that the rates “do not reflect the true cost of care.”
Agwunobi said negotiations with Aetna continue, and he urged the health insurer to “follow UnitedHealthcare’s lead and come to a fair agreement that appropriately compensates UConn Health for the care we provide on behalf of Connecticut’s taxpayers.”
