Conway Regional face terminating contract with United Healthcare Insurance

Conway Regional Health System is currently under contract negotiations with United Healthcare Insurance.

If a new deal is not done, thousands of Arkansans may have to look for their healthcare needs elsewhere.

Matt Troup is the CEO of Conway Regional Medical. He told KATV they are striving to get a deal reached by July 1.  He said they are focused on continuing to provide the best healthcare to their patients.

Troup said that based on the data they are seeing, the rate for insurance is currently not at market value.

"If United decides that they don't want to pay at the market then we would be out-of-network, not only Conway Regional Hospital and health system but all 280 physicians that also are a part of this contract," Troup said.

Troup hopes to address the rise in the cost of care since it's skyrocketed due to the pandemic.

He also said they want to address administration issues in their contract negotiations.

"Our payment rates from insurers such as United have gone up pretty minimally and have not kept up with the cost of inflation," he said.

Troup told KATV they have 15,000 patients in their healthcare system, which doesn't represent all 280 providers. He doesn't believe any physicians will leave, but not finalizing a deal could cause Arkansans to find another provider.

"That patient is going to have to find a new physician to have a new relationship with," he said. "If you have a primary care physician you're going to have to change primary care doctors after July 1st or go out-of-network which means your out-of-pocket costs could be significantly higher."

Troup said they would have to assess the overall impact if a new deal is not reached.

He said at this time, they don't have any other termination agreements besides United Healthcare Insurance.  Troup said in the history of their healthcare system, they have never terminated an insurance group because of a rate issue.

"When costs go up faster, dramatically faster as they have in the era of COVID than revenue, then you have to make some difficult choices," Troup said. "You have to sit back down with the manage care community and work out new arrangements."

Troup said patients and Conway Regional Medical Center employees would have to pay out-of-network costs.