A federal court has dismissed Envision Healthcare's lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare, citing the two companies' contract that says disputes must be settled by arbitration.
The bottom line: This is a large victory for UnitedHealthcare, which terminated its contract with Envision and now has the upper hand in negotiating rates for Envision's health care services. The big questions are when the two sides will come to a new agreement, and how patients who use emergency rooms with these companies will be affected.