09/24/2023
Because I like to openly communicate with my families, I wanted to share that I attempted (for the 3rd time) to contract with United Healthcare/UMR.
I did this because I have had to turn families away due to being out of network, and had families leave the practice, against their will, because their employer switched to UMR and we are not contracted.
I spent about two hours typing up a well researched letter explaining the demographics of our area, the number of children under the age of 18, and the number of pediatric providers in the area (which are few).
I also referenced the fact that this is considered an underserved area for primary care and that the state of Ohio, in general, is expected to have a shortage of 1200 primary care providers by the year 2025.
Despite these efforts, I once again received an email stating that they “have enough pediatric providers in this area for the commerical and medicaid lines of service and the network is closed”.
Ironically, on Monday morning, they called my office asking us to accept a patient- to which we replied that we are not contracted because they have repeatedly refused us.
I just want to make you aware that we have done absolutely everything in our power to secure a contract with UHC in order to serve children with this insurance, but they are not cooperative at all.
I know that you are all busy, but here is how you can help.
If you have United Healthcare/UMR- call or email them to express your concerns and frustrations!
My granny always said the squeaky wheel gets greased. 😉
