Loyola University Chicago

Human Resources

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Update on Trinity Health/Aetna Contract Negotiations

October 26, 2021 

Dear Faculty and Staff, 

Several of our employees who access medical care at Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) may have received a letter recently from Shawn Vincent, president and CEO of Loyola Medicine. The letter provided an update on the status of health care services contract renewal negotiations between Trinity Health and Aetna insurance company for calendar year 2022 and beyond. Loyola University Chicago (LUC) recently received this notification as well. 

It is normal business for insurance companies and providers to negotiate new and renewal contracts in order to agree on services, pricing, discounts, and rebates. Although it is the norm, the negotiation process can be challenging for all parties. The impact of which is unfortunately felt by the consumers and families. 

Currently, approximately 25 percent of our covered employees, along with their families, access services at LUMC. We are extremely sensitive to the potential impact of the decisions on many of you made by both the hospital system and the insurance provider. We assure you that we will continue to make every effort to minimize disruption in services for you and your covered dependents and aggressively work with our hospital and insurance partners toward that result. We will also keep our LUC community apprised of any updates in the coming weeks. 

There are no changes to the University’s current medical plan coverage under Aetna. All plan coverage for in-network services at LUMC remains the same through December 31, 2021. 

Loyola University Health System leadership is aware of and is sensitive to the fact that Aetna is LUC’s health insurance provider for faculty and staff. They are hopeful that the negotiations between Aetna and Trinity’s national network of hospitals and providers will ultimately be resolved before the end of this year, not just for LUC employees, but also for everyone insured through Aetna across the country.  

The University remains committed to providing high quality health care for our faculty and staff. We remain confident in our partnership with Aetna as the University’s health insurance partner. The business activity between these two organizations will set the course for their respective goals and objectives while LUC remains focused on our mission and the needs of our employees. 

The Benefits Open Enrollment period will proceed as scheduled, with the employee self-service system (ESS) opening on Monday, November 1 for faculty and staff to make elections, as previously communicated. 

Please feel free to direct your questions and/or comments to benefits@LUC.edu for further assistance. 

Thank you very much for your continued support. 

Winifred L. Williams, PhD
Vice President, Human Resources
Chief Human Resources Officer