United Healthcare and Saint Joseph Regional Sign Agreement

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UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, and Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, a South Bend-based not-for-profit health care system, have signed a new agreement that expands access to affordable, quality health care for UnitedHealthcare customers in North Central Indiana.

Effective Sept. 1, the new multiyear agreement will provide UnitedHealthcare commercial and Medicare health plan customers in Michiana with in-network access to health care services provided by physicians at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center’s acute care hospitals in South Bend and Plymouth, its new facility in Mishawaka, and Michiana Rehabilitation Institute.

This new agreement further expands UnitedHealthcare’s extensive network to more than 10,500 physicians and 140 hospitals and medical facilities throughout Indiana.

“We are proud to partner with Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center to give our customers in the Michiana area a broader selection of skilled in-network medical providers,” said Daniel Krajnovich, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Indiana. “This new agreement is a result of our ongoing commitment to provide Indiana consumers with access to affordable, quality health care.”

“This agreement with UnitedHealthcare is an exciting and important development for all of us here at Saint Joseph, but also for so many here in the communities we serve,” said Nancy R. Hellyer, SJRMC’s CEO. “Some 12,000 individuals in St. Joseph County and the surrounding areas of Northern Indiana will now have access to the state-of-the-art health care services at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center’s South Bend and Plymouth campuses as well as all of the dedicated doctors in our Physician Network. These individuals will now be able to access our new acute care hospital and rehabilitation institute that will be opening in Mishawaka.”

On Dec. 14, Saint Joseph will open its new 254-room Mishawaka facility at Edison Lakes. Set on a 90-acre campus, the new hospital will provide world-class technology and advanced care in a healing environment. The hospital will offer a full range of services and a state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment platform.

In April 2009, Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center/South Bend was named one of the nation’s top 100 hospitals by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of health care information and solutions, and was one of 23 hospitals to receive the 100 Top Hospitals: Everest Award for National Benchmarks, recognizing improvement over a five-year period.

About Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center

Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center is a not-for-profit, multi-hospital health care system in North Central Indiana providing a wide variety of medical programs and care for people from all walks of life. A ministry organization of Trinity Health Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center has a 125-year history of offering faith-based, personalized care in a diverse and team-oriented environment. HealthGrades, the nation’s leading healthcare ratings company, has rated Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center among the top 5% in the nation for joint replacement and orthopedic surgery six years in a row (2004-2009), and among the top 5% for spine surgery in 2008. SJRMC also received a five-star rating from HealthGrades for treatment of stroke in 2009, and was rated the number one hospital in Indiana for orthopedics in 2009. Most recently, HealthGrades ranked SJRMC among the top 5% U.S. hospitals for women’s health for 2009/10.

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