IMPORTANT CHANGE TO OUR NETWORK OF LABORATORY SERVICE PROVIDERS
As we approach 2007, we would like to announce an important change to our network of laboratory service providers. We are pleased to announce that our company has reached a ten year agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) to be UnitedHealthcare's single national provider for laboratory services effective January 1, 2007. LabCorp's national breadth and expanding capabilities will complement our wide range of local and regional laboratory service providers.
Also effective January 1, 2007, Quest Diagnostics will no longer participate in UnitedHealthcare's network except in limited markets. LabCorp will be the sole national capitated laboratory services provider for the following HMO benefit plans: PacifiCare of Colorado, Neighborhood Health Partnership in Florida, and Mid-Atlantic Medical Services (MAMSI) in Maryland and Virginia. LabCorp is already the exclusive laboratory services provider for the HMO benefit plans for PacifiCare of Arizona and will remain so.
LabCorp will also assume responsibility for managing the Oxford Health Plans laboratory network in the greater New York metropolitan region, effective January 1, 2007. In these and all other markets, except for the HMO benefit plans noted above, UnitedHealthcare's laboratory network will include a combination of LabCorp and other regional and local laboratory service providers. In many of these markets, UnitedHealthcare will be contracting with new providers that will add to the breadth of our network.
LabCorp is a national leader in laboratory services. Currently, the company offers more than 4,400 types of laboratory tests and processes more than 360,000 specimens daily for 220,000 physicians and other clients. LabCorp is particularly well-regarded for its capabilities in more complex testing related to oncology, infectious disease, and genomic, esoteric, and anatomic pathology.
Since Quest Diagnostics will no longer provide contracted laboratory services to UnitedHealthcare members except in very limited markets, any services provided to members by Quest Diagnostics, as a non-participating lab, will subject UnitedHealthcare and its customers and members to higher costs as of January 1, 2007.
|