UnitedHealth to accelerate Medicare Advantage payments to some rural hospitals

Jan 14 (Reuters) – UnitedHealth’s health insurance unit said on Wednesday it has launched a pilot program aimed at speeding up Medicare Advantage payments by 50% on average to support independent rural hospitals in some states.

The six-month pilot in Oklahoma, Idaho, Minnesota and Missouri will focus on reducing collection times for rural hospitals from less than 30 days to less than 15 days, the insurer said.

The hospitals were selected using a criteria intended to identify those most in need of financial relief and to help shape longer-term rural health strategies, UnitedHealthcare said. Insights from the pilot will guide potential expansion to additional hospitals and markets, it said.

Rural hospitals have warned that proposed healthcare cuts in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending package could force them to scale back services or close their doors.

A senior White House aide had said in December the Trump Administration would award each U.S. state between $147 million and $281 million in 2026 under a new rural health transformation program aimed at improving access to care and service quality.

The initiative, authorized under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will provide $50 billion over five fiscal years. It will make $10 billion available each year from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2030 for all 50 states.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)