UnitedHealthcare Expands Health Care Access to the U.S. Virgin Islands

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, has expanded its broad national network to include the U.S. Virgin Islands by signing agreements with V.I. Equicare and the Schneider Regional Medical Center.

V.I. Equicare is the largest physician group in the Virgin Islands, and Schneider Regional Medical Center offers access to three different medical facilities.

With this agreement, nearly 3,000 UnitedHealthcare commercial health plan customers who reside in the U.S. Virgin Islands now have in-network access to a broad range of quality health care services. This network expansion also increases access to accredited, in-network health care providers beyond the continental U.S. at a time when consumers are increasingly in need of global access to health care.

"The Virgin Islands are significant to UnitedHealthcare, and we believe that individuals enrolled in our health plans as well as local businesses will welcome these new relationships with V.I. Equicare and Schneider Regional Medical Center,” said Dan Rosenthal, CEO for UnitedHealthcare’s Virgin Islands business. "These agreements demonstrate our shared commitment to providing the people of the Virgin Islands with access to quality, cost-effective health care services.”

The Interim Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth Harris, welcomed the new relationship with UnitedHealthcare and V.I. Equicare, calling it a "significant indication of well-deserved confidence in the quality of care available at our facilities.” Schneider Regional Medical Center offers access to a range of fully accredited medical services at the Roy Lester Schneider Hospital, the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute, and the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center on St. John.

Harris said she is pleased that more residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands now can benefit from the excellent in-patient and out-patient services available locally, while maximizing the value of their health insurance coverage. "These developments are further tribute to the hard work and dedication of a committed medical center staff, and a reassurance to our community that the support it provides to our health care facilities enables continued progress,” she said.

V.I. Equicare is the largest Preferred Provider Organization in the U.S. Virgin Islands with more than 200 participating physicians in St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas.

"We are very pleased to welcome UnitedHealthcare as an in-network partner for V.I. Equicare’s family of physicians,” said Dr. George Rosenberg, founder and CEO of V.I. Equicare. "Our participating providers look forward to serving the health care needs of patients insured with UnitedHealthcare in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

V.I. Equicare offers a broad network of health care professionals, including primary care physicians, specialists, and mental health providers, as well as a variety of ancillary and out-patient medical facilities, such as radiology centers and laboratories, skilled nursing centers, home health care, hospice, durable medical suppliers, and rehabilitation centers.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthcare.com) provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. The company organizes access to quality, affordable health care services on behalf of more than 26 million individual consumers, contracting directly with more than 580,000 physicians and care professionals and 4,900 hospitals to offer them broad, convenient access to services nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.