'UnitedHealthcare Eliminates Most Medical Prior Authorizations, Accelerates Payments for Rural'

 

Initiatives help independent rural hospitals improve cash flow and enhance financial stability, ensuring continued access to quality care for local residents


Company will continue to invest further in supporting rural communities

UnitedHealthcare today announced a significant, national expansion of its rural health care initiatives to help lower costs and simplify processes for care providers and greatly enhance access to quality care for individuals in rural communities.

Specific initiatives being introduced nationwide include:Speeding payments by up to 50% for approximately 1,500 rural hospitals and all Critical Access Hospitals;
Exempting rural providers from most medical prior authorization requirements across all lines of business; and
Launching new hub-and-spoke partnerships designed to deliver essential services directly to patients in their communities.

“Rural care providers are essential to their communities yet fragile, so we welcome the chance to make meaningful investments to support their work — and we expect to continue investing more and actively building on these initiatives,” said Tim Noel, Chief Executive Officer, UnitedHealthcare.

“We appreciate UnitedHealthcare’s efforts to ease the financial and administrative strain being felt by rural health care providers,” said Alan Morgan, MPA, Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Health Association. “We look forward to working with UnitedHealthcare to ensure local providers in rural areas have the support they need to care for the people in their communities.”


Nationwide payment acceleration for rural hospitals

In January 2026, UnitedHealthcare launched its Rural Payment Acceleration Pilot in four states. Under the program, Medicare Advantage payments to hospitals were accelerated from fewer than 30 days to fewer than 15 days on average, helping improve cash flow and financial sustainability at the facilities. The pilot is now immediately expanding to include five additional states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. By the fall of 2026, UnitedHealthcare intends to have expanded this program to approximately 1,500 rural hospitals and their associated rural practitioners nationally, including all Critical Access Hospitals, and will include payments made through Medicaid and fully insured Commercial plans.

Reducing prior authorization requirements for rural providers

By the fall of 2026, UnitedHealthcare will exempt rural providers from most of the medical prior authorization requirements that exist today. This exemption will apply to the same group of approximately 1,500 rural hospitals — including all Critical Access Hospitals — and their associated rural practitioners across all lines of business. This effort is designed to alleviate cost and staffing strains that disproportionately affect rural providers and will give them greater flexibility to focus on patient care rather than administrative processes, while maintaining safeguards for quality and patient safety through ongoing reviews. This progressive approach recognizes the unique circumstances of rural providers while maintaining safeguards for quality and patient safety through ongoing reviews.

Advancing hub-and-spoke models for rural care

To improve continuity of care in rural communities, UnitedHealthcare is partnering with leading health systems to support hub-and-spoke care models that connect regional clinical expertise with community-based access points.

These models may include industry leading capabilities in mobile and virtual care, data interoperability and analytics, clinical decision support and home-based care. Initial areas of focus include maternity care, diabetes and post-surgical care. UnitedHealthcare aspires to deliver a hub-and-spoke approach with superior outcomes that may serve as a model for additional markets.

https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/newsroom/2026/2026-04-20-uhc-eliminates-most-medical-prior-authorizations-accelerates-payments-for-key-rural-care-hospitals-providers.html