UnitedHealthcare has terminated its Medicaid contracts with two Philadelphia hospitals owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare after the organizations failed to reach a new agreement, reports Philadelphia Business Journal.
The network change involves HahnemannUniversityHospital and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. The facilities will be out-of-network for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan policyholders and Children's Health Insurance Program members in Pennsylvania and New Jersey beginning Aug. 1, according to an official statement from the hospitals.
The change does not affect UnitedHealthcare's commercial or Medicare Advantage members.
In a prepared statement, UnitedHealthcare spokesperson Mary McElrath-Jones said, "We have attempted since March to negotiate in good faith with Tenet Healthcare, who did not respond to UnitedHealthcare on the contracts for St. Christopher's and Hahnemann. Our focus remains on continuing to support our Medicaid and CHIP members' access to the care they need and ensuring continuity of care for anyone in the middle of treatment."
Hahnemann and St. Christopher's released a joint statement on the contract change.
"We offered to extend our contract to protect in-network access to our hospitals for our patients with UnitedHealthcare Community Plan Medicaid coverage. Providing high-quality care to our patients is our top priority, and we are disappointed that United refused, stating that extending the contract was not an option."