In a contracting standoff with Highmark, the area's largest health insurer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has signed expanded contracts with three other key insurers, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Tribune.
UPMC's contract with Highmark, which has 3 million members, will expire June 30, 2012, and a UPMC official said the system does not have a "reasonable expectation" of renewing it.
Meanwhile, the system has signed contracts with Aetna, Cigna and United HealthCare Services that cover more UPMC facilities.
Aetna, which had lost its UPMC contract in 2001, now administers UPMC contracts with several major employers. The new United HealthCare contract expands coverage to UPMC's Presbyterian and Shadyside hospitals, along with some of its regional hospitals. And the contract with Cigna, signed in February, expands access to all UPMC hospitals and physicians.
Read the Pittsburgh Tribune report on University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
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