- Oct 17, 2011
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The veteran lawmakers, both members of the powerful Senate finance committee, launched their inquiry last summer following a Guardian investigation into bonuses that UnitedHealth pays to nursing homes that reduce hospital transfers for their residents. Those are hospitalizations the insurance giant would otherwise have to pay for.
UnitedHealth did not directly respond to questions from the Guardian about the senators’ assertion that the company had failed to turn over internal documents. But it said in a statement it would “continue to engage” with the senators and that its nursing home care program “improves outcomes” and “reduces unnecessary hospitalizations”.
The new letter from the senators says that in the five months since they formally requested a tranche of documents about the initiative, UnitedHealth has “declined to produce” any internal records on its hospitalization policies or bonus payments and only provided “brief and unsubstantial answers” in response to their questions.
On 29 July the senators’ offices held a briefing with UnitedHealth in which the company maintained that nursing homes in its program were not required to have conversations with the company’s direct care division before sending residents to the hospital, according to the letter.
Wyden and Warren wrote that this claim “is at odds” with a company document, which was provided to the Senate finance committee by a whistleblower. The document showed that UnitedHealth pushed nursing homes to “immediately” call its direct care division even if they were sending out an insured UnitedHealth member “urgently”, according to the senators’ letter.
In June, UnitedHealth sued the Guardian, alleging defamation for a story about bonuses the company paid to nursing homes that helped it to reduce hospital transfers for their residents. The suit was the latest in a series of aggressive tactics aimed at silencing critics, the New York Times reported.
In the wake of the suit, the Guardian stood by its story, and continued to report on the company’s nursing home practices.
UnitedHealth did not directly respond to questions from the Guardian about the senators’ assertion that the company had failed to turn over internal documents. But it said in a statement it would “continue to engage” with the senators and that its nursing home care program “improves outcomes” and “reduces unnecessary hospitalizations”.
The new letter from the senators says that in the five months since they formally requested a tranche of documents about the initiative, UnitedHealth has “declined to produce” any internal records on its hospitalization policies or bonus payments and only provided “brief and unsubstantial answers” in response to their questions.
On 29 July the senators’ offices held a briefing with UnitedHealth in which the company maintained that nursing homes in its program were not required to have conversations with the company’s direct care division before sending residents to the hospital, according to the letter.
Wyden and Warren wrote that this claim “is at odds” with a company document, which was provided to the Senate finance committee by a whistleblower. The document showed that UnitedHealth pushed nursing homes to “immediately” call its direct care division even if they were sending out an insured UnitedHealth member “urgently”, according to the senators’ letter.
In June, UnitedHealth sued the Guardian, alleging defamation for a story about bonuses the company paid to nursing homes that helped it to reduce hospital transfers for their residents. The suit was the latest in a series of aggressive tactics aimed at silencing critics, the New York Times reported.
In the wake of the suit, the Guardian stood by its story, and continued to report on the company’s nursing home practices.
