As of Sept. 1, University of Florida Health's hospitals and physician groups in Gainesville, Jacksonville, and St. Johns are no longer in network with UnitedHealthcare.
The break affects thousands of patients with UnitedHealthcare commercial and Medicaid plans, along with Medicare Advantage patients in the St. Augustine area, according to a news release from Gainesville-based UF Health. UF Health Central Florida is not part of the current negotiations and remains in network.
"We are sensitive to the challenges this poses for our patients and despite the outcome we continue to earnestly work with UnitedHealthcare toward a solution. Our commitment to placing patients at the heart of our efforts is unwavering, and we have put processes in place to minimize any disruption in care to the extent we can, but unfortunately UnitedHealthcare has given us no other choice," Marvin Dewar, MD, CEO of UF Health Physicians, said. "We even invited United leadership to meet with us on site to finalize the agreement but they declined. We continued to try to reach an agreement right up to the deadline but United insisted upon linking other products to the negotiations and abruptly imposing new conditions and changing language to items that had already been agreed upon. As a physician, my job is to care for my patients, and we did our best to avoid this situation."
"Despite our repeated efforts to compromise and find a solution, UF Health walked away from our negotiation and allowed our agreement to expire as of Sept. 1," a spokesperson for UnitedHealthcare told Becker's. "We delivered a contract on Aug. 31 to finalize the terms UF Health had indicated they’d accept for our Medicaid plan, only for the health system to never respond and unnecessarily disrupt access to care for Floridians. We also delivered a proposal to UF Health on Aug. 30 that included significant compromises for our employer-sponsored commercial plans. The health system never countered. UF Health’s last proposal included a 30% price hike over two years and a more than 20% rate increase in one year, which is not affordable for consumers or employers. While we remain committed to continued discussions, our focus now is ensuring Florida families have access to the care they need through continuity of care or a smooth transition to another provider, as appropriate.”