A new agreement has been reached between UNC Health and UnitedHealthcare, ensuring that thousands of North Carolina patients will remain in-network when receiving treatment at UNC clinics and hospitals. This comes after the previous contract was set to expire on April 1.

The new agreement covers patients under United’s commercial, Individual Exchange, and Medicare Advantage plans. Dr. Matt Ewend, chief clinical officer at UNC Health, stated that the new agreement will benefit patients across the state by avoiding increased costs and the stress of going out of network or finding new providers for their care.

Negotiations between UNC Health and UnitedHealthcare began last year and a deal was finally reached this week. This agreement follows a similar long-term contract recently announced with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.

UNC Health is working to communicate this news to patients under UnitedHealthcare to reassure them that their UNC providers will remain the same. This is part of UNC Health’s commitment to providing quality care and maintaining strong relationships with insurance providers for the benefit of their patients.