Myth #1: UnitedHealthcare agreed to a new contract in 2020 that provided Wellstar hospitals with fair rate increases.
False. The contract that UnitedHealthcare references from the summer of 2020 was done as an amendment to restructure certain aspects of the contract. These types of amendments are routine over the course of normal health insurance company and health system relationships. The 2020 amendment did not address core issues, including the fact that UHC has not been paying its fair share of the healthcare costs for the communities we serve, and that UHC refuses to recognize our independent community physicians as a network. Our physician partners work side by side with Wellstar to provide high-quality care to patients and deserve the recognition and fair reimbursement for their work.
Myth #2: UnitedHealthcare has offered to modernize Wellstar’s contract several times in recent years with fair performance-based programs.
False. UnitedHealthcare’s offer for additional performance-based programs was designed to provide greater financial benefit to UnitedHealthcare than to the Wellstar physicians and caregivers whose additional time and resources would be needed under the programs. Quite simply, UnitedHealthcare has not offered to restructure the performance-based programs in a fair and equitable way.
Myth #3: Wellstar is asking for egregious rate increases.
False. Wellstar is simply looking to be reimbursed fairly for the high-quality care delivered at our hospitals and physician offices and asking UnitedHealthcare to prioritize patients over its bottom line in a new agreement. We are seeking contractual rates and terms from UnitedHealthcare that are similar or consistent with the agreements we have with other insurance partners and that are in line with the high-quality patient care and services that Wellstar provides.
As a not-for-profit health system, Wellstar reinvests 100% of our savings into the communities we serve. In contrast, UnitedHealthcare is a publicly traded company focused on profits not patients. It’s parent company UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) reported a record $22 billion profit last year…during a global pandemic.
Myth #4: UnitedHealthcare considers Wellstar Clinical Partners’ physicians to be a part of Wellstar’s clinically integrated network.
False. While it is true that UnitedHealthcare may have individual contracts with some of the independent community physicians, it does not recognize them as a clinically integrated network. This means UnitedHealthcare patients do not have access to Wellstar’s population health infrastructure and Wellstar’s complete clinically integrated network. These services facilitate enhanced communication across caregivers, help patients navigate across providers and specialists, and provide additional care coordination and resources such as pharmacy and social worker consults.
Myth #5: UnitedHealthcare is prioritizing patient access over its own profits.
False. UnitedHealthcare is a publicly traded company, focused on its profits, not patients. Its parent company, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), reported a record $22 billion profit last year…during a global pandemic. And for far too long, UnitedHealthcare has been interfering in the patient/doctor relationship, increasing denials for needed services and failing to reimburse health systems like Wellstar at fair rates. Even more, UnitedHealthcare is the least trusted private insurer in the country according to
The 2020 Trust Index from ReviveHealth and
www.uncovered.health .
Myth #6: Wellstar provided false information about MultiPlan access for UnitedHealthcare patients.
False. Wellstar had provided our written consent for UnitedHealthcare to access Wellstar physicians and hospitals through the MultiPlan agreement. Shortly after we shared that update, MultiPlan notified us that it received notice from UnitedHealthcare,
that they (UnitedHealthcare) will no longer access any and all locations of Wellstar as network providers in the MultiPlan Network.
