We’ve told you the story about how UnitedHealthcare abruptly kicked American Anesthesiology of Florida and American Anesthesiology Services of Florida out of network in December 2023. Now, let’s examine why.
As you might imagine, it all revolves around rates. It’s the same story in nearly every situation involving insurers and healthcare providers.
Here are the facts:
The anesthesia practices signed an agreement with UnitedHealthcare in 2016 to provide in-network care. Those rates remained unchanged since 2016 — despite rampant rise in inflation for South Florida. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased 26 percent in South Florida over the past eight years
Then one day last year, UnitedHealthcare reared its head and suddenly demanded a drastic rate cut. This wasn’t about limiting potential price increases, it was about slashing rates that were already eight years old.
There were no problems with the quality of the anesthesia care or the service its physicians provided. UnitedHealthcare wanted to keep the anesthesiology providers in network — it just wanted to cut their rates.
The anesthesia providers rightly said no and were promptly kicked out of network.
Does that make any sense? Certainly not for patients and providers.
Florida is already experiencing a severe shortage of anesthesiologists, ranking near the bottom of states in terms of the number of anesthesiologists per capita.
A Feb. 20, 2024 article highlights the potential danger — warning that that “hospitals across the United States are struggling to maintain fully staffed anesthesia departments, which is critical to keeping their operating rooms and procedure rooms open and productive.”