Healthcare execs name UnitedHealthcare as the insurer they trust the least

Perennial insurance industry bad boy UnitedHealthcare continued to score at the bottom in the eight annual ReviveHealth National Payor Survey, which measures the opinions and attitudes of hospital and health system leaders who negotiate and/or approve managed care contracts with national health insurance companies.

New to the survey this year were three questions designed to measure the trust healthcare provider executives had in the insurance companies they dealt with frequently. Catalyst Healthcare Research formulated this new “Payor Trust Index” for the survey using research findings on measuring trust levels. It asked the survey respondents — which included primarily directors or vice presidents of managed care at hospitals, as well as CEOs, COOs, CFOs and other administrators — to rate how strongly they agreed with three statements as they applied to each insurer.

1. This organization makes every  effort  to  honor  its  commitments.  
2. This organization is accurate  and  honest  in  representing  itself  and  its  intentions.  
3. This organization balances its  interests  with  ours  and  doesn’t  routinely  take  advantage  of  us.  

“United  managed  to  unify  providers  in  a  way  that  little  else  can  —  it  scored  dead  last  on  all  three  Trust  Index  questions,  scoring  43.1,  42.7  and  36.4  respectively  (for  an  aggregate  score  of  40.7),” the report authors wrote.

Other insurers did better, but none was extremely highly rated as a trustworthy partner on the scale, which went from 1 to 100. The closest was Cigna with a composite score of 63.1, followed by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which had a composite score of 58.9.

The report authors found this level of trust “abominably low” and raised concerns that this could harm effective payor-provider collaboration and data sharing, which is necessary for effective accountable care organization and population health management efforts.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield continued to be the insurer survey respondents liked the most. Among the respondents:

• 66 percent believed it was the company most trusted by consumers
• 37 percent considered it the best at dealing with hospitals
• 49 percent thought it paid the most promptly
• 37 percent said it had the best reputation for honesty and candor in contract negotiations
• 35 percent thought it the most responsive in contract negotiations
• 37 percent considered it the best for partnering with hospitals on new initiatives

UnitedHealthcare was the least liked. Among respondents, 42 percent rated it as the worst overall at dealing with hospitals and 31 percent thought it the worst at paying promptly.

However, in the end, what healthcare leaders think of various insurers does not influence who they will do business with. UnitedHealthcare, for all the negative things said about it, was also the company most respondents had contracts with. Nearly every respondent (95 percent) reported having contracts with UnitedHealthcare. Aetna was second with 92 percent of respondents reporting having contracts with it, and Cigna was third with 91 percent.

The survey was conducted by phone and online between January 21 and March 5 of this year. It drew a  total  of  203  complete  responses and had a  margin  of  error  of  +/-­ 6.8 percent.