Envision Healthcare Nashville. A Tennessee-based company is no longer in UnitedHealthcare’s provider network after the organizations couldn’t agree on reimbursement rates.
- UnitedHealthcare said the change will affect physician groups in 44 states and the District of Columbia. On December 31, 2020, Envision said in a news release that UnitedHealthcare decided to cut ties and physician reimbursement rates.
- According to Envision, UnitedHealthcare has characterized reimbursement rates for Envision physicians three times higher than their median rate. The physician staffing firm claimed if this was the case, “United has cut reimbursement rates for emergency room doctors across the country by 50 percent.”
- Envision is “driving up the cost of care for the people and customers we serve. Envision expects to be paid nearly double the median rate we pay other anaesthesiologists and more than triple the median rate we pay other ER physicians.”
- UnitedHealthcare provided one example in Florida, where it says 90 minutes of anaesthesia services for knee surgery would cost more than twice as much if an Envision physician-administered it compared to an anaesthesiologist reimbursed at a median rate.
- In December 2018, UnitedHealthcare and Envision agreed to extend their contract for 2019 despite legal battles over arbitration and disagreements about surprise billing.