Montpelier, VT – Recently, UnitedHealthcare has written to patients to inform them that University of Vermont Health Network providers and facilities in Vermont and upstate New York, including the University of Vermont Medical Center, Central Vermont Medical Center, Porter Medical Center, Alice Hyde Medical Center, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, and Elizabethtown Community Hospital, will no longer participate in its commercial insurance provider network as of April 1, 2022. As a result, most non-emergency services will not be covered as an in-network benefit under commercial UnitedHealthcare plans.
The change will not affect members in the following UnitedHealthcare plans:
- Medicare Advantage (including Vermont AARP Medicare Advantage Plans)
- Medicare Supplement (including Vermont AARP Medicare Supplement Plans)
- New York Managed Medicaid
- Veterans Administration Community Care Network
Under federal law, health insurance plans must continue to provide in network rates for individuals who are considered continuing care patients. In general, federal law defines continuing care patients as individuals undergoing treatment for a serious and complex condition. The following continuity of care protections apply when a provider or facility ceases to be an in-network provider because of a termination of a contract:
- Timely notify continuing care patients of the termination and their right to elect continued transitional care from the provider or facility;
- Provide continuing care patients an opportunity to notify the plan or issuer of the need for transitional care;
- Permit continuing care patients to elect to continue their care under the same terms and conditions as would have applied under the plan or coverage had the termination not occurred, with respect to the course of treatment furnished by the provider or facility.
Consumers with additional questions may contact the University of Vermont Health Network at 844-886-4325, or UnitedHealthcare at 800-444-6222.
Additional information may also be found on the University of Vermont Health Network website at https://www.uvmhealth.org/news/uvmhn/important-information-regarding-un….
Consumers may also contact the Department of Financial Regulation at 800-964-1784 or by email at dfr.insuranceinfo@vermont.gov.
Connect with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation on Twitter, Facebook, and on our website.
###