Utah's largest health insurer has dropped MountainStar Healthcare Hospitals from its network.
United HealthCare's contract with MountainStar expired Dec. 31, and both sides had predicted it would be difficult to agree on terms for a new contract. Wednesday, they announced that negotiations were indeed unsuccessful.
That means the 250,000 Utahns insured by United HealthCare will no longer find Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem or Mountain View Hospital in Payson on their list of network providers.
In November, MountainStar (the Utah "brand" name for HCA-owned hospitals) took out ads directed at United HealthCare members after the insurer dropped two other MountainStar hospitals, Ogden Regional Medical Center and Brigham City Community Hospital. Instead, the insurer signed contracts with Intermountain Health Care's McKay-Dee Hospital Center of Ogden and Bear River Valley Hospital of Tremonton.
At that time, both United HealthCare and MountainStar acknowledged they were miles away from an agreement on a contract but promised they would continue to try to find common ground. Negotiations reportedly continued into last week.
Most of the people insured by United HealthCare could still use the MountainStar hospitals, if they chose to, but they would have to pay a higher percentage of the cost of care and would not receive contract-negotiated discounts.
MountainStar executives say the insurer demanded a too-steep pay cut in what it would pay the hospitals for services.
Rob Adams, United HealthCare of Utah's CEO, characterized it differently a month ago when the dispute first garnered public attention. He said the hospitals had received a substantial, double-digit increase the year before and wanted another one. "This is not about that. It's about several issues and the relationship in general."
E-mail: lois@desnews.com