UnitedHealthcare and Montefiore Health System have reached a multi-year agreement that restores access to Montefiore’s hospitals and physicians for people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare and Oxford employer-sponsored plans, as well as UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Dual Special Needs Plan, effective Dec. 1, 2021.
“We recognize and appreciate the care Montefiore provides is important and personal to our members, and we also know the negotiation process has been difficult for them,” said Michael McGuire, CEO of UnitedHealthcare New York. “Our top priority has been ensuring the people and employers we’re honored to serve in New York have access to quality, more affordable health care, and this new agreement helps accomplish that goal.”
In New York, UnitedHealthcare serves more than 3.7 million people enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual, Medicare and Medicaid plans through a network of 319 hospitals and more than 111,000 physicians and other care providers.
This agreement restores in-network access to Montefiore’s 10 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient facilities throughout the Bronx, Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties.
“The long-term health of our patients has always been the central focus of our negotiations,” said Colleen Blye, executive vice president, Chief Financial Officer, Montefiore Health System. “Over the past ten months, the support of our local employers, elected officials and communities has been overwhelming, and we are pleased that our patients once again have in-network access to their trusted Montefiore hospitals and providers.”
As of Jan. 1, 2021, the contract between United Healthcare and Montefiore expired without a new contract in place to cover the care that Montefiore provides to patients with United/Oxford commercial health plans, United Medicaid Community Plans and United Medicare DSNP Plans.
As a result, many Bronx, Westchester and Rockland residents have lost their in-network access preferred Montefiore doctors and hospitals in the middle of a global pandemic.
