But nobody’s taking a victory lap, or even saying who won or what was conceded
Both sides are tight-lipped about what concessions were made, but both agreed to a three-year agreement between United Healthcare and Piedmont Healthcare that is retroactive to July 1, more than a month after the old contract expired.
As for any specifics relating to the agreement, only Piedmont Healthcare returned phone calls, yet would not release any information pertaining to the agreement between the two companies.
The contract between Piedmont Healthcare and insurer United HealthCare expired on June 30. Left in the lurch during that period with no in-network coverage in Fayette and Coweta counties were the many United customers who use Piedmont Fayette or Piedmont Newnan hospitals.
All that changed last week when the two parties announced — late Friday night in a recalled email and then an “official” news release at 2:22 a.m. Saturday — that they had reached agreement on a three-year contract that will keep all Piedmont Healthcare hospitals and physicians in United Healthcare’s commercial network.
Plan participants enrolled in United Healthcare employer-sponsored and individual plans will have in-network access to the 1,400 physicians in the Piedmont Clinic and all six Piedmont hospitals – Piedmont Atlanta, Piedmont Fayette, Piedmont Mountainside, Piedmont Newnan, Piedmont Henry and adding Piedmont Newton to this new relationship, according to the Aug. 27 joint press release.
The renewed agreement is retroactive to July 1, ensuring people enrolled in United Healthcare plans do not experience any interruption in their in-network coverage for services received at Piedmont, the press release said.
One of the publicized sticking points to surface during the contract negotiation in July and August was the claim by United CEO for Georgia Garland Scott that Piedmont wanted to raise its costs by nearly 30 percent over the next three years. Scott called Piedmont’s “rate demands … simply unfair and unsustainable for Georgia consumers.”
Responding to that perspective was Piedmont Healthcare Chief Consumer Officer Matt Gove, who said, “The 30 percent they stated is not true. We’re not going to negotiate rates or contract terms in the media. It’s an excellent talking point but, unfortunately, it’s not true.”
On questions by The Citizen about the rate increase picture, if the new agreement would affect physicians pay or if price increases would result, Gove on Aug. 29 said he could not comment on the contract.
“We wouldn’t talk about the details before (the contract agreement) and we won’t do it now. We’ve reached an agreement that both sides are satisfied with. We won’t talk about how we were able to reach the agreement,” said Gove.
Gove said Piedmont is aware that the time period prior to the Aug. 27 agreement was a difficult time for patients.
“We were aware of that. We’re very happy to have found a way to reach an agreement and meet the needs of the community,” said Gove. “We all sat down together and figured out how to reach an agreement for us and the patients.”
Attempts to have United respond to questions posed by The Citizen subsequent to the Aug. 27 press release were unsuccessful.
“Our priority is our patients and this process has been very tough on them. We are very happy to have found common ground and a way that Piedmont and United Healthcare can work collaboratively to extend high-quality, patient-centered care in our communities,” said Kevin Brown, President and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare in the joint press release. “Our physicians value highly the relationships they have with their patients. The new agreement recognizes the hard work our physicians have put into making the care they provide both higher quality and more cost effective.”
While Piedmont physicians have participated in United Healthcare’s transparency tool for three years, the agreement extends participation to include all Piedmont facilities. This renewed relationship also places more emphasis on value-based performance, ensuring the care patients receive is focused on improved outcomes and overall better health, Piedmont said.
“We are grateful for the commitment Piedmont has made to value-based health care and look forward to working together to help people receive personalized and more connected care,” said United’s Scott. “We thank our plan participants and customers for their support throughout this process and are honored to continue supporting 1.3 million people across Georgia who depend on us for access to quality and cost-effective health care.”
