Updated June 6, 2025
We are in active negotiation with Bon Secours St. Francis in the Greenville, South Carolina area. Our top priority is to reach an agreement that is affordable for consumers and employers while ensuring continued network access to the health system.
In the event we are unable to reach an agreement, Bon Secours St. Francis’ physicians and hospitals will be out of network for select UnitedHealthcare benefit plans, as follows:
- Physicians + Hospitals – UnitedHealthcare employer sponsored commercial plans, including UMR and Surest, effective July 1, 2025
- Physicians – UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans, including Group Retiree and Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNP), effective July 1, 2025
- Hospitals – UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans, including Group Retiree and Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNP), effective October 1, 2025
We continue to compromise and are proposing meaningful rate increases that ensure Bon Secours St. Francis continues to be reimbursed at market-competitive rates while balancing the affordability needs of consumers and employers.
We proposed extending our current contract, which would have allowed additional time to negotiate without putting members in the middle of our negotiation. Bon Secours St. Francis refused, presumably to use its patients as leverage to obtain the significant price hikes it’s seeking.
Bon Secours St. Francis is seeking price hikes for our commercial plans that aren't affordable or sustainable for consumers or employers.
Bon Secours’ proposal is significantly higher than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) year-over-year trends for medical services. CPI is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Bon Secours St. Francis’ proposal would significantly drive up premiums and out-of-pocket costs for the people we serve as well as the cost of doing business for employers.
Bon Secours’ rate demands would directly drive up health care costs for self-insured employers given they pay the cost of their employees’ medical bills themselves rather than relying on UnitedHealthcare to pay those claims.
As the prices for health care continue to rise, employers have less money available to help grow their business through things like investments in new technologies or increase salaries for employees.
Bon Secours St. Francis’ proposal would impact what consumers pay for services received at its hospitals.
To help illustrate the impact of the health system’s commercial price hike demands over three years, consider the following examples:
- The cost of inpatient surgery would increase by more than $3,900 on average
- The cost of outpatient surgery would increase by over $1,320 on average
- The average cost of an ER visit would increase by more than $260
Bon Secours St. Francis is also asking for a significant increase for our Medicare Advantage plans that would increase health care costs by almost $13 million over a three-year period and make them the highest cost health system in our network by a large margin in South Carolina.
Agreeing to Bon Secours’ proposal would not only significantly drive up overall health care costs but would also have a direct impact on the benefits our Medicare Advantage members rely on.
In the event Bon Secours St. Francis leaves our network, people enrolled in our Group Retiree PPO plans may still receive care from a Bon Secours St. Francis physician or hospital as an out-of-network provider, if they are a Medicare-approved provider that accepts the plan. Their share of the cost will be the same as if they were part of the network.
UnitedHealthcare Group Retiree members are encouraged to speak with their physician or hospital to confirm they’ll continue to see them, regardless of their network status.
For additional information about our Group Retiree plan as well as information on how to find a provider in their area, UnitedHealthcare members should go to retiree.uhc.com.
We know the care Bon Secours St. Francis provides to our members is not only important but also personal. We also understand how disruptive it can be for our members and their families when a physician no longer participates in our network. We are fortunate to have a broad network of physicians throughout the region that are readily able to provide high-quality care that meets the needs of our members should Bon Secours St. Francis leave our network.
If one of our members is in the middle of treatment with a Bon Secours St. Francis physician and they go out of network, they may qualify for continuity of care. Continuity of care provides continued in-network benefits for a specified period of time after a hospital or physician leaves our network. A few examples of patients who may qualify include:
- Women who are pregnant
- Patients with newly diagnosed or relapsed cancer, or those currently in active cancer treatment
Members who have questions about continuity of care or alternative hospitals in their area should call the number on their health plan ID card. Members can also use the provider directory on our member website to search for alternative hospitals and doctors.
Our track record of renewing contracts with providers is strong, as evidenced by the fact that we maintain relationships with more than 7,000 hospitals and 1.7 million physicians.
On average, we negotiate about 2,000 provider contracts every year, and the vast majority of those negotiations result in renewed contracts with no disruption for our members, and also no external noise as the negotiations are handled professionally and behind closed doors.
We are fully committed to engaging in productive, good-faith negotiation and remain focused on our goal of renewing our contract with Bon Secours St. Francis to allow people continued access to quality, affordable care.
We hope Bon Secours St. Francis shares our commitment of reaching an agreement that is affordable for the people and employers we serve.