Purchasers

Purchasers select for their clients...

It's well known that the medical insurance industry is under severe pressure to limit healthcare costs. At the same time, insurers face increasing pressure to provide a high quality of service to patients.

UHS has earned the confidence of payors by helping them satisfy these seemingly contradictory goals.

McAllen Medical Center is one of four UHS facilities to enter an exclusive Preferred Provider Organization arrangement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.

UHS has proven that high quality health services can be provided at a reasonable cost. This has been achieved through the application of time-tested management techniques, and through the everyday vigilance of UHS personnel nationwide. For example, UHS has worked to hold down the cost of supplies by standardizing products across a broad range of facilities, and then working with suppliers to secure the best possible prices. In addition, we have encouraged our professionals to continually develop and implement innovative care practices.

Quality care and managed costs have helped UHS behavioral health centers, such as The Horsham Clinic in Ambler, Pennsylvania, excel in a challenging environment.

As a result of efforts like these, UHS has been able to forge strong relationships with key healthcare insurance companies, such as the exclusive contract we signed with Blue Cross of South Texas during 1997.

What's more, our discipline has provided us with the experience needed to cope with new federal restrictions governing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement levels. While these restrictions continue to pose serious challenges to all healthcare providers, UHS has demonstrated that we can continue to provide quality healthcare to our many Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Perhaps the strongest endorsement of UHS's approach is in the field of behavioral healthcare, which is traditionally one of the most challenging fields in which to provide high-quality, cost-effective care.

Through our UHS Management Services Division, we have been called on to manage a growing number of behavioral units for hospitals and health maintenance organizations nationwide.

Beginning in 1998, for example, UHS's Behavioral Healthcare division will manage the care of 170,000 individuals for U.S. Healthcare in Philadelphia, as well as 75,000 for Health Alliance Medical Plan in Champaign, Illinois, and up to 60,000 for The George Washington University Health Plan in the District of Columbia. Similar contracts have recently been signed in a number of other regions, with more expected to close in 1998.

Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillio, Texas, is a diversified medical complex, featuring an aute care teaching hospital, specialized obstetric and pediatric services, trama care, a poison control center, an emergency medical system, and behavioral care facilities

In the years ahead, the national debate over the cost of healthcare will continue to generate headlines and government interest. Every day, however, the people of UHS are quietly demonstrating that compassion and fiscal responsibility are not mutually exclusive.

Previous page | Annual Report Contents | Next page