Greenville, N.C.-based ECU Health — a collaboration between East Carolina University and Vidant Health — will start leaving UnitedHealthcare’s network April 29, according to the insurer.
If an agreement is not reached, ECU Health, including Vidant Medical Group, will be completely out of network for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicaid plan in North Carolina, effective April 29. Employer-sponsored commercial, Medicare Advantage and individual family plans will also lose access to Vidant Medical Group physicians on April 29, ECU Health hospitals on July 15, Kinston Medical Endoscopy on Nov. 1 and ECU Health physicians on Feb. 15, 2027.
UnitedHealthcare said ECU is advocating for a 60% price increase “that would make it significantly higher cost than any health system in our commercial network in North Carolina.”
ECU Health said “that figure reflects adjustments phased in over several years intended to address more than a decade of stagnant reimbursement.” The system said UnitedHealthcare has not increased reimbursement for physicians for at least six and at most nine years, and the system’s hospitals had not seen a facility rate increase in seven years. Otherwise, any rate increases did not match inflation.
“Had UnitedHealthcare increased payments gradually over time in line with healthcare inflation, reimbursement levels today would already be close to where ECU Health is seeking to be,” ECU Health’s website said, as of March 17.
“Simply put, health systems cannot be expected to deliver 2026 care at 2017 prices,” Michael Waldrum, MD, CEO of ECU Health, said.
The insurer added that, under the agreement, the system’s costs would be more than 65% greater than the average of the state’s other academic medical centers by 2028.
UnitedHealthcare and ECU Health each said they would remain at the negotiating table, even though ECU Health claimed “UnitedHealthcare has stepped away from active discussions.”
This story was last updated March 17.
