Mercy, UnitedHealthcare sign agreement

In a deal signed with Mercy Springfield Communities, individuals enrolled in UnitedHealthcare’s Options PPO can receive care at either of Springfield’s major hospital systems.

Previously a plan exclusively with CoxHealth, participants now have access to some 430 physicians in Mercy’s network, including 50 pediatricians and the St. Jude-affiliated Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center, according to a new release.

“We feel it’s important to provide our local community with health care choices – people shouldn’t have to travel to a larger city to see a specialist, if there’s one right across town,” Mercy Hospital President Dr. Robert Steele said in the release. “Accessing health care in more rural areas can often be challenging because of the limited number of care providers. The addition of Mercy doctors and advanced practitioners to the UnitedHealthcare network should be a great benefit to individuals and families living outside of Springfield.”

Under the agreement, Mercy Hospital Cassville moves into the network for the UnitedHealthcare Options PPO plan, and hospitals in Aurora and Mountain View are in-network for UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored plan participants.

Mercy Springfield Communities is part of the sixth-largest Catholic health care system in the nation, with 31 hospitals, 300 outpatient facilities and 39,000 employees serving 3 million people annually, according to Mercy.net.