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# UPDATE: UHealth and UnitedHealthcare reach a deal on deadline day
- URL: https://members.americanhealthintel.com/2026-07-31-ledger/
- Published: 2026-07-31T17:57:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-31T17:57:47.000Z
- Description: Plus: CMS pays SNFs $882.74M more despite MedPAC's call for a 4% cut. The day's rules, money, and enforcement, sourced and tiered below.
- Author: American Health Intel

Plus: CMS pays SNFs $882.74M more despite MedPAC's call for a 4% cut. The day's rules, money, and enforcement, sourced and tiered below.

| American Health Intel Rules · Money · Medicine · Decoded daily The Ledger Friday, July 31, 2026 UPDATE: UHealth and UnitedHealthcare reach a deal on deadline day Plus: CMS pays SNFs $882.74M more despite MedPAC's call for a 4% cut. The day's rules, money, and enforcement, sourced and tiered below. ![](https://americanhealthintel.com/email/pulse-divider.png) Other Confidence: Medium UHealth and UnitedHealthcare, the academic health system and the nation's largest insurer, reached a new multi-year contract today, the exact deadline this issue has tracked since July 27. The agreement keeps more than 60,000 UHealth patients in-network across commercial, individual and Florida Medicaid plans. Financial terms, including the rate increase UHealth sought, were not disclosed. Why it matters The deal avoided a network disruption for tens of thousands of patients, showing how public negotiation pressure can resolve a payer-provider standoff before a deadline. Sources: [Umiamihealth](https://umiamihealth.org/en/uhc/uhealth-and-unitedhealthcare-negotiation?ref=members.americanhealthintel.com) Rule Confidence: High CMS just finalized an 882.74 million dollar Medicare payment increase for the nation's skilled nursing facilities, the industry housing millions of seniors in short-term rehab and long-term care. The agency's own advisers at MedPAC had recommended a 4% rate cut instead, citing a 24.4% aggregate Medicare profit margin for freestanding nursing facilities in 2024\. CMS proceeded with the increase anyway. Why it matters CMS raised Medicare payments to nursing homes even after its own advisers said industry margins were already high, a sign the agency did not follow MedPAC's rate advice this cycle. Sources: [CMS](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/fiscal-year-2027-skilled-nursing-facility-prospective-payment-system-final-rule-cms-1843-f?ref=members.americanhealthintel.com) · [MedPAC](https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Mar26%5FExecutiveSummary%5FMedPAC%5FReport%5FTo%5FCongress%5FSEC.pdf?ref=members.americanhealthintel.com) Also today Healthcare M&A deal count falls 23% YoY, dollar volume triples to $95.3B [Read](https://americanhealthintel.com/editions/2026-07-31-ledger/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition#healthcare-ma-q2-2026-deal-count-down-dollars-up) CMS publishes named risk scores for 6,673 hospices, new disclosure mandate [Read](https://americanhealthintel.com/editions/2026-07-31-ledger/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition#cms-hospice-ssvi-public-risk-scores-fy2027-final-rule) CMS's own settlement and evaluation numbers disagree on ACO REACH savings [Read](https://americanhealthintel.com/editions/2026-07-31-ledger/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition#aco-reach-settlement-vs-evaluation-net-spending-divergence) FRONTIER SCAN: $650M+ invested in trial-site-free clinical trials, AI pitch next [Read](https://americanhealthintel.com/editions/2026-07-31-ledger/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition#decentralized-clinical-trials-ai-funding-frontier-scan) 334Records$19.6BEnforcement16Deadlines100Rules [Read this issue + the trackers](https://americanhealthintel.com/editions/2026-07-31-ledger/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition) Pick your field on the site and every story tells you what it means for you. Reply to this email and tell us what you want covered. We read everything. We show our work. We score our own calls. [Track record](https://americanhealthintel.com/ledger/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition) · [Calendar](https://americanhealthintel.com/calendar/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition) · [Enforcement](https://americanhealthintel.com/enforcement/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=edition) · [X](https://x.com/amhealthintel?ref=members.americanhealthintel.com) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-health-intel?ref=members.americanhealthintel.com) News and analysis, not legal, medical, coding, or investment advice.You subscribed at americanhealthintel.com · [Unsubscribe](%%{unsubscribe%5Furl}%%) |
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