Another round of deadline negotiations for United Health and Florida Hospital [The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.]

Sept. 14--With their contract set to expire at midnight tonight, negotiators from Florida Hospital and United Healthcare are working past 5 p.m. to seal a deal today, said a source close to the negotiations.

The two health-care giants have been engaged in a protracted contract discussion that dates back 10 months. Although the original contract was set to expire at midnight Aug. 14, the two sides agreed to a 30-day extension that would expire at 11:59 tonight.

The negotiations have left many of United Healthcare's 400,000 customers in Central Florida in limbo and wondering how much longer they will be able to use Florida Hospital facilities for non-emergencies -- and see 450 Florida Hospital staff physicians -- at in-network rates.

For Yvonne Cunningham, who is undergoing treatments at Florida Hospital's Cancer Center, the stalemate has been frustrating.

She is scheduled for another round of treatment today, but doesn't know whether this will be her last treatment there without paying out-of-network rates.

"I'm very nervous because it costs $4,000 per treatment," she said.

In July, Cunningham was diagnosed with an immune disorder that requires a six-hour intravenous treatment every month at Florida Hospital's Altamonte Springs cancer center.

Without the treatments, she could develop cancer. Yet she has spent the past few months worrying about whether she'll have to switch cancer centers and doctors because hers are employed by Florida Hospital.

"For me, it's so frustrating that they're doing this," said Cunningham, 61. "And I'm just one of thousands of people affected by this."

Employers who have contracted with United Healthcare remain in the dark as well.

"I haven't heard anything directly from United Healthcare on whether we look good to settle on the 14th [of September]," said Dorothy Richards, benefits administrator for Orange County government's human-resources office. More than 8,600 county employees are enrolled in United Healthcare's HMOs.

Instead, she received an email from the Florida Health Care Coalition on Monday, saying that United Healthcare and Florida Hospital are on agreement on economic issues, but not on "quality issues."

Unless the two health-care giants come to a last-minute agreement, beginning Wednesday, United Healthcare subscribers will have to pay out-of-network rates to go to Florida Hospital's network of 18 hospitals for anything except emergencies.

"Our communication remains open as we continue to work feverishly towards an agreement with United Healthcare," Florida Hospital spokeswoman Samantha O'Lenick said Monday. "There are just a few remaining issues that we are working through. We continue to be optimistic that a new contract can be reached, just as with past managed-care negotiations."

Late last week, David Lewis, president of United Healthcare's Florida division, said the contract negotiations were nearly complete. "It's just a matter of crossing the t's and dotting the i's," he told the Sentinel's editorial board.

The two sides began negotiating last November, after Florida Hospital notified United Healthcare that it was going to terminate their existing contract. The two parties had been operating under a contract that was initially negotiated in 2001, but annually adjusted to raise reimbursements to the hospital system, according to United Healthcare officials.

Since then, the health-care giants have been in the midst of contentious negotiations, trying to hammer out a new agreement.

"Everyone has different negotiating strategies," said Michael O'Boyle of United Healthcare, who handles United's contract negotiations around the country. "Unfortunately, we started very far apart."

On Aug. 13 -- one day before the contract was set to expire -- the two companies announced an agreement that would allow United Healthcare members to continue using Florida Hospital facilities at in-network prices until Sept. 14.

But neither the insurance giant nor Florida Hospital told those subscribers that they had worked out a 60-day extension for doctors' groups owned by Florida Hospital -- so patients could continue to see their doctors at in-network prices until Oct. 14.

Linda Shrieves can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5433.

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