Health Choice, LLC, the joint venture physician hospital organization jointly owned by MetroCare Physicians, Inc and Methodist Healthcare, announced today the long term extensions of several large contracts.  “We recently concluded negotiations with CIGNA HealthCare of Tennessee and United Healthcare to extend the CIGNA agreement by five years and the United agreement by three years,” stated William Breen, CEO of Health Choice.  “Together, these two contracts represent more than 300,000 covered lives in this market.   These are important contracts for both Health Choice owners,” said T. Carter Towne, M.D., Chairman of the MetroCare Board of Directors. 

“CIGNA HealthCare is honored to announce a five year extension of our hospital contract with Methodist,” said John W. Sorrow, President of CIGNA HealthCare's Mid South Region. “A five year agreement between a hospital system and a health plan clearly demonstrates a special partnership.  This agreement reveals the long term commitment Methodist and CIGNA HealthCare have made towards improving quality of care for Memphis residents while we continue to work closely with Methodist to develop innovative solutions that improve the health of the community.  Through these efforts, we have experienced industry leading growth and cover 200,000 Memphians today." 

“UnitedHealthcare is very pleased to announce a three year extension of our hospital contract with Methodist in the Memphis market,” said Garland Scott, President and CEO of UnitedHealthcare, MidSouth Division. “Our partnership with Methodist and Health Choice has been extremely beneficial as UnitedHealthcare has experienced significant growth in this market over the past four years. Through this new agreement we are continuing to build on our commitment to bring quality, affordable health care to UnitedHealthcare members living in and around the Memphis area.” 

In addition, Health Choice recently contracted with four payers the network previously accessed via the Private Healthcare Systems, Inc. (PHCS). Breen further stated, “The recent decision we made to terminate PHCS was based on our desire to improve the quality of the contract provisions and contract directly with the key PHCS carriers in this market, namely Principal, Assurant, Nippon Life, and Trustmark. These companies represent more than 80% of the PHCS business in Memphis and we are pleased to maintain individuals covered by these plans as our clients.”