UHC Adds Health System to CO Doctor Plan to Boost Patient Care Access

HealthONE, the most extensive Denver-based healthcare system, announced it would be joining the UnitedHealthcare Doctors Plan of Colorado, expanding its network size to enhance patient care access.

By joining the Doctors Plan of Colorado, members will gain access to HealthOne’s over 11,000 Denver-based caregivers and support staff.

“We worked extensively with local healthcare providers to create a coverage plan that has the doctor-patient relationship at its core,” said Marc Neely, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare in Colorado. “That’s where trusting relationships are built.”

“HealthONE brings an added value to Colorado Doctors Plan, a plan which offers significant cost-savings but also a more personalized, simplified, and coordinated care experience that can help people improve their health and well-being,” Neely continued.

In 2018, the payer launched the Colorado Doctors Plan through a collaboration with Centura Health, Colorado Health Neighborhoods, and New West Physician.

This relationship between payer and accountable care organizations aims to provide low-cost, patient-centered healthcare for Coloradans.

“The best healthcare is a combination of three important ingredients — access, affordability, and quality outcomes,” Gary Winfield, MD, family practitioner and chief medical officer of HealthONE, said in the press release. “It’s my goal daily to see that our care is a combination of all three.”

With the recent addition of HealthONE, members enrolled in Colorado Doctors Plan will gain access to more than 4,200 total providers and 22 area hospitals. The partnership will serve residents in eight counties across the Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs areas who receive employer-sponsored health coverage.

HealthONE’s network contributes over 2,700 providers, seven acute care hospitals, nine urgent care centers, and 17 ambulatory surgery centers, the press release stated.

Increasing access to physicians, specialists, clinics, and hospitals is not only expected to boost care quality but also affordability. Colorado Doctors Plan can reduce healthcare costs by up to 20 percent compared to a traditional PPO.

“Everyone’s goal is to create a healthcare system that is more accessible and more affordable,” Neely stated. “So, when we first envisioned Colorado Doctors Plan, we asked ourselves, ‘If we could build a better solution from the ground up, with consumer and physician satisfaction as job No. 1, what would that look like? Colorado Doctors Plan is the result, and we are incredibly proud of it.”

Colorado is not the only state where UnitedHealthcare has launched a Doctors Plan partnership. In 2020, UnitedHealthcare and Canopy Health introduced the California Doctors Plan, which offers free access to urgent and primary care services.

The concierge-style health plan also planned to save members up to 25 percent compared to other health plan premiums. 

The Canopy Health partnership served residents in nine California counties in the San Francisco bay area by offering them access to 5,000 physicians and 19 hospitals with similar goals as its sister plan in Colorado.

“In designing the California Doctors Plan, we wanted to not only offer significant cost-savings but also a more personalized, simplified, and coordinated care experience that can help people improve their health and well-being,” Steve Cain, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare in Northern California, explained at the time.