UnitedHealthcare and Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health have reached an agreement that will keep the health system in the payer's Medicare Advantage network in 2025.
Essentia said in September that it would no longer accept UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage plans beginning Jan. 1, 2025, citing excessive prior authorization requirements and denial of care.
The health system said in a Nov. 11 news release that it had been working with UnitedHealthcare toward a resolution and believes that the new plan addresses its concerns.
"We felt strongly that it was important to advocate for our patients, and we were able to reach an agreement for 2025 that addresses many of our issues and concerns by improving timely and reliable access to the high-quality care they depend on from Essentia," the system's chief medical officer for population health, Cathy Cantor, MD, said in the release.