Updated May xx, 2025

We are working hard to renew our relationship with El Camino Health

UnitedHealthcare is currently negotiating in good faith with El Camino Health (El Camino). Our goal is to reach an agreement that is affordable for the people and employers we serve while ensuring continued, uninterrupted network access to El Camino’s hospitals. 

In the event we are unable to reach an agreement, El Camino’s two hospitals in the Bay Area of Northern California will be out of network for people enrolled in the following plans, effective July 1, 2025:

  • Employer-sponsored commercial plans
  • Medicare Advantage plans, including Group Retiree plans

El Camino’s physicians and medical groups are not impacted by this negotiation and will continue to remain in-network, regardless of the outcome of our negotiation.

We are fully committed to engaging in productive, good-faith discussions and urge El Camino to work with us to reach an agreement that is affordable for families and employers in the Bay Area.

Our top priority is to reach an agreement and ensure the people we serve in Northern California have continued, uninterrupted network access to affordable health care at El Camino’s hospitals.

We will remain at the negotiating table with El Camino for as long as it takes to reach an agreement. We hope El Camino shares our commitment and works with us on solutions that are affordable for California consumers and employers.

We are proposing meaningful rate increases that will ensure El Camino’s two hospitals continue to be compensated at market-competitive rates.

We have a responsibility to provide the people we serve with access to quality health care while also helping to contain rapidly rising health care costs.

Maintaining fair and competitive agreements with the hospitals in our network is critical to our ability to meet this commitment for consumers and employers.

That’s why we continue to compromise and have proposed meaningful rate increases that ensure El Camino continues to be reimbursed at market-competitive rates while also balancing affordability for the people and employers we serve.

We have created the following FAQs to ensure you and your family have the information needed regarding next steps as well as details to help meet your health care needs.

FAQs

We are actively meeting with El Camino Health (El Camino) with the goal of renewing our relationship so that the members we serve have continued access to El Camino’s two hospitals. We want to keep El Camino in our network and are committed to engaging in productive negotiation.

In the event we are unable to reach an agreement, El Camino’s hospitals in the Bay Area of Northern California will be out of network for people enrolled in the following plans, effective July 1, 2025:

  • Employer-sponsored commercial plans
  • Medicare Advantage plans, including Group Retiree plans

El Camino’s physicians and medical groups are not impacted by this negotiation and will continue to remain in-network, regardless of the outcome of our negotiation.

If we are unable to reach an agreement, the following hospitals will be out of network on July 1, 2025:

  • El Camino Hospital Mountain View
  • El Camino Hospital Los Gatos

No. El Camino’s physicians and medical groups are not impacted by this negotiation and will continue to remain in-network, regardless of the outcome of our negotiation.

This negotiation impacts the following benefit plans:

  • Employer-sponsored commercial plans
  • Medicare Advantage plans, including Group Retiree plans

Members enrolled in our Medicare Advantage PPO plans may receive care from an out-of-network provider, if the provider is a Medicare participating provider which accepts the plan.

If members have a Group Retiree PPO plan, the member’s share of the cost is typically the same as if the provider was part of the network.

UnitedHealthcare Group Retiree members are encouraged to speak with the provider to confirm they will provide care, regardless of their network status.

For support finding in-network physicians, members can call the customer care number on their health plan ID card or visit their plan’s website:

Yes. We are negotiating with El Camino in good faith and are hopeful we will reach an agreement at fair, market-competitive rates that will ensure the people we serve can continue to afford care at the health system’s hospitals.

We will remain at the negotiating table with El Camino for as long as it takes to reach an agreement that ensures continued access to quality, affordable care.

We understand that network changes can be difficult for our members. Our priority is to ensure our members have access to the care they need through a robust network of hospitals.

 

If we are unable to renew our agreement with El Camino, the people we serve will continue to have access to in-network care from a broad network of hospitals in the Bay Area, including, but not limited to:

  • Sequoia Hospital
  • Good Samaritan Hospital
  • Washington Hospital
  • Stanford Hospital (commercial only)

For support finding in-network physicians, members can call the customer care number on their health plan ID card or visit their plan’s website:

In the event of an emergency, UnitedHealthcare members should go to the nearest hospital. Emergency care will be covered at the in-network benefit level, regardless of whether the hospital participates in our network.

UnitedHealthcare members who are in the middle of treatment at a El Camino hospital may qualify for continuity of care, which provides continued in-network benefits for a specified period of time after a hospital leaves our network. Some examples of patients who may qualify include, but are not limited to:

  • 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 should call the number on their health plan ID card.

For support finding in-network physicians, members can call the customer care number on their health plan ID card or visit their plan’s website: