Same hospital system, two different answers. WakeMed’s Raleigh hospitals returned to UnitedHealthcare’s network on October 15 for people with employer-sponsored plans. They remain out of network for people in UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans, who have until December 7 to switch.
What the October 15 contract changed
WakeMed and UnitedHealthcare signed a new multi-year contract for employer-sponsored commercial plans, effective October 15, WakeMed says on its negotiations page. Members of those plans regained in-network access to WakeMed’s acute and rehabilitation hospitals, its HealthPlex locations, specialty physicians and home health.
The health system says it resumed scheduling and providing care on an in-network basis that day. Its page also acknowledges that “the past eleven months have been incredibly challenging” for patients, and says the agreement lets more of them return to care teams they know…