American Renal Associates, UnitedHealth execute binding settlement term sheet

American Renal Associates Holdings (ARA) and UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company (UNH) announced that they have executed a binding Settlement Term Sheet and will be negotiating terms of a definitive settlement by August 1, 2018. Under the terms of the Agreement, ARA will pay $32M and will follow certain procedures and share information with UnitedHealthcare. In conjunction with the Agreement, ARA and UnitedHealthcare will enter into a three-year network agreement, effective August 1, 2018, that will provide UnitedHealthcare plan participants with more cost effective, in-network access to all of ARA’s dialysis clinics in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The network agreement will include UnitedHealthcare’s health benefit products across the commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care markets, and will allow chronically-ill end-stage renal disease patients to better coordinate their access to care with ARA’s clinics and ARA-affiliated nephrologist partners who are part of the UnitedHealthcare network. The network agreement will also include certain value-based contracting features designed to improve quality and lower hospitalization costs for UnitedHealthcare plan participants who receive kidney care at ARA clinics. In a joint statement, the companies said, “We are pleased to have reached a resolution on this matter and we look forward to building a more cooperative relationship that enables us to collaborate on high quality care for dialysis patients.”

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