On March 19, 2024, New York-based Mount Sinai Health System and UnitedHealthcare announced that they had resolved their disputes and reached agreement on a four-year contract for Mount Sinai’s hospitals and physicians to be in-network with the health insurer.
In a statement, Mount Sinai CEO Brendan Carr stated:
We are pleased to have reached an agreement that puts patients first and will ensure their continued access to the care they deserved. This is a win for our patients and for our providers, who have worked tirelessly to provided outstanding care during this uncertain time.
Since this negotiation began, our goals have been simply to protect patient access and to be compensated fairly for the care we provide. It is imperative that systems like ours receive fair reimbursements in order to carry out our mission and will ensure we can continue to deliver the services our patients depend upon. We are and remain the best value for high quality healthcare in the region. We deeply appreciate the trust patients have placed in us and we look forward to welcoming them back to Mount Sinai.
In a statement to its employees, hospital officials stated:
We were never asking to be the highest-paid system in the region – we were simply asking for fair payment for our physicians and hospitals and fewer denials for the outstanding care you deliver every single day. The new contract achieves all of these goals.” Mount Sinai called the agreement an “enormous victory.”