East End Health Alliance Reaches Terms With United Healthcare

Health insurance provider United Healthcare and the three East End hospitals comprising the East End Health Alliance came to terms late Wednesday night to extend their service contract and keep roughly 12,000 individuals in-network at the three hospitals and brought roughly 3,000 self-insured East Enders back into network.

Contracts between United and the hospitals —  Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, and Southampton Hospital — were due to expire at midnight on Thursday.

Paul Connor, spokesmen for the EEHA and president of ELIH, had , as they often do in contract negotiations.

"It took every bit of time to reach the agreement," he said on Thursday. "Nonetheless, we have reached an agreement."

Connor could not elaborate on how long the contract extension was signed for or its specific terms, though he said a contract deadline with a health insurance provider, "doesn't appear imminent — certainly not the size of the United or Blue Cross contract."

The contractual sticking point, as is often the case between health insurers and providers, was reimbursement rates for visits, procedures, tests, surgeries and other care and costs.

In July, a contract expired between the EEHA and United customers who were self-insured and used the health insurer as a third-party administrator, leaving roughly 3,000 East Enders out of network at the three hospitals.