UnitedHealth Group is adding new partnerships and striking contract deals, while its mergers and acquisitions continue to make the news.
Here are 14 stories about the Minnetonka, Minn.-based payer Becker's has covered since Oct. 19.
- The Justice Department plans to appeal a September court ruling that cleared the path for UnitedHealth Group to move forward with its $7.8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare. A U.S. District Court judge ruled in September the merger could move ahead, rejecting a lawsuit from the Justice Department calling the deal anticompetitive.
- Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed and UnitedHealthcare signed a multiyear contract, restoring access for 20,000 patients who had been left out of network since June 1. The deal was effective Nov. 15 and includes coverage for commercial and Medicare Advantage members, including D-SNP plans.The three-year contract does not include Medicaid, Medicare supplement or ACA exchange plans.
- UnitedHealthcare is expanding its partnership with fitness club brand Life Time, offering access to Life Time's 160 clubs to millions of Medicare Advantage members. According to a Nov. 16 news release, UnitedHealthcare members whose plans include the Renew Active program will be able to access Life Time clubs and Life Time's programming for older adults.
- AARP members will be able to purchase prescription hearing aids starting at $699 per hearing aid through UnitedHealthcare. The payer will administer AARP's Hearing Solutions, which provides affordable hearing aids to members of the association.
- Emil Hill was named as UnitedHealthcare's senior vice president of communications, government programs. Mr. Hill spent the previous 16 years at communications firm Weber Shandwick.
- UnitedHealth Group's acquisition of Lafayette, La.-based home-health firm LHC Group is on track to be completed in December. The parties are said to have substantially complied with the Federal Trade Commission's second request into the acquisition, according to Seeking Alpha. UnitedHealth Group's Optum unit agreed to buy LHC in late March in a $5.4 billion deal.
- Marcus Robinson, senior vice president of individual and family plans at UnitedHealthcare, sat down with Becker's to discuss the company's major expansion of Affordable Care Act plans in 2023 and how the rollout plays into the payer's larger goal of serving members and addressing the nation's uninsured rate.
- About 20,000 patients could be left out of network if UnitedHealthcare and Syracuse, N.Y.-based SUNY Upstate University Hospital are unable to reach a new contract before the current one expires Dec. 31. UnitedHealthcare said the sides have agreed to a "cooling-off period" for beneficiaries enrolled in community plans and fully insured commercial plans, allowing them to have in-network coverage through Feb. 28, 2023, while contract negotiations continue.
- Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health reached a multiyear agreement with UnitedHealthcare, six months after the two-sides went out of network. The agreement restores network access to Broward Health hospitals, facilities and physicians for UnitedHealthcare members, including those enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans.
- UnitedHealthcare is expanding its individual and family plans on the ACA marketplaces to a total of 22 states for 2023.
- UnitedHealthcare will continue to offer free Apple Fitness+ subscriptions to members with employer-funded health plans.
- The ACLU of Rhode Island filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare of New England and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority over a 2021 data breach that compromised the data of more than 20,000 former and current state employees. The proposed class-action suit seeks to obtain financial compensation for the victims of the August 2021 breach.
- UnitedHealthcare named Steve Cain as CEO of its California market. He has been CEO of the Northern California market since 2019, and has been with UnitedHealth Group since 2007.
- UnitedHealth Group has a combined total of at least 780,000 square feet across several facilities available for lease in Minnesota.