Statement: Contract negotiations with Aetna

June 2 update: We were unable to reach agreement with Aetna as of June 1. We will continue to seek a fair and sustainable agreement — one that ensures continued access to high-quality care and is in the best interests of our patients.

As the state’s largest public hospital system and Washington’s safety net healthcare provider dedicated to improving the health of all people, UW Medicine provides care that patients cannot access elsewhere, and we take that responsibility very seriously. 

We are doing everything possible to finalize contracts with Aetna, that will provide Aetna-insured patients with access to affordable, quality healthcare at UW Medicine. 

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair agreement with Aetna that is financially feasible and in the best interests of our patients and our dedicated employees.

We are not alone; other health systems have also had difficulty reaching fair terms with Aetna and have ended their contracts with the multistate insurance company. If we continue to be unable to reach an agreement with Aetna, our current contracts with Aetna will end on June 1. 

UW Medicine remains deeply committed to being a healthcare partner to our patients and offering our full range of services. We have discussed the need for rates to address the cost of the care and bring Aetna’s rates in line with those of other commercial payors.

Aetna’s reimbursement rates to UW Medicine are the lowest compared to other insurance companies in the market. As a result, Aetna wants UW Medicine to agree to rates that will cause other patients and other insurers to help us cover the cost of care. 

Aetna’s contract offer is not fair to our patients or the thousands of public employees at UW Medicine who deserve to be treated fairly. In order to keep our hospitals operating and serve as the primary safety net for our state, we need to be paid fairly for the healthcare that we provide. 

Unlike Aetna, a private, for-profit company that had revenue of $186 billion in 2023, UW Medicine is a public healthcare system committed to serving the needs of patients in our communities. 

Without the one-time federal and state support, UW Medicine would have had a 3.5% loss in fiscal year 2023. With government support UW Medicine was able to keep just 4 cents of every dollar we were paid in order to invest in our employees’ wages and capital construction needs we have to keep our hospitals open. This leaves very little room to absorb significant changes in reimbursement, inflation, and labor costs.        

We understand how important it is for our patients to retain in-network access to the doctors, programs and expert care teams they know and trust. 

We notified Aetna patients of this possibility in April and are now providing patients with information about their options for care if our contracts with Aetna end on June 1, 2025. This includes the option of switching to an in-network provider; pursuing Transition-of-Care coverage if pregnant or in an active course of treatment — including cancer care; opting to cover the additional cost no longer covered by Aetna if using out-of-network coverage or self-pay options; or choosing to reschedule their appointment if medically appropriate and they would like more time to consider options.

We thank our patients and their families for trusting UW Medicine with their healthcare. 

We will provide updates on our negotiations at uwmedicine.org/aetna. 

For details about UW Medicine, please visit http://uwmedicine.org/about.