Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UnitedHealth In Hot Seat Over Policies After CEO Slaying Exposes Public Anger
Seven UnitedHealth Group shareholders are calling on the health care conglomerate to produce a report on how often its policies lead to denied or delayed care, and the effects on patients and the economy. (Bannow, 1/8)
A doctor has shared a shocking story of how UnitedHealthcare stopped a cancer surgery to ask if it was medically necessary in a new Instagram video. Elisabeth Potter, a doctor based in Austin, Texas, created a video on Instagram detailing her experience treating a cancer patient and the roadblocks UnitedHealthcare put up during a surgery procedure. ... Potter said she was performing a bilateral DIEP flap surgery, which is a reconstruction surgery that takes place after a mastectomy when she was interrupted by a call from United Healthcare. The patient was already asleep on the operating table. "They demanded information about her diagnosis and inpatient stay justification," Potter said in a post on Instagram. "I had to scrub out mid-surgery to call United." (Blake, 1/8)
Three insurance companies owned by UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, will have to pay a collective $165 million in damages to consumers and the state of Massachusetts, the the state attorney general’s office announced Monday. Believed to comprise the highest total of civil penalties in any action brought by the office under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, it will have to pay over $50 million in restitution to consumers and an additional $115 million in civil penalties. (Aitken, 1/7)
In related news —
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is working to increase security at its healthcare conference next week in San Francisco, according to a source familiar with the planning. The 43rd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference kicks off Monday at the Westin St. Francis. The conference attracts thousands of attendees each year from the provider, insurance, digital health and pharmaceutical sectors, including top executives from hundreds of companies and health systems such as Mayo Clinic, Walgreens, Centene and Pfizer. (Hudson and Kacik, 1/8)
