After rallying for several days in a row, UnitedHealth Group's shares are taking another downturn following media reports that it paid kickbacks to nursing homes to reduce patient transfers to hospitals.
The report, published in The Guardian, alleges that bonuses were paid to facilities based on metrics like "admits per thousand," which tracked how many patients were sent from a nursing home to the hospital. The program aimed to reduce costs, but put patients at risk, according to the article.
For example, a nurse at a facility in Washington state reported to a remote UnitedHealth clinician that a patient was experiencing symptoms of a stroke. But rather than supporting the potential stroke diagnosis and recommending that the patient go to the hospital, UnitedHealth's employee suggested that they may be experiencing a transient ischemic attack, a less serious diagnosis.
The patients' primary care physician said she was not notified of this exchange, per The Guardian.
UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty steps down, company suspends 2025 outlook
Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit organization that is working with whistleblowers in the case, said in a press release that when patients were sent to the hospital instead of following recommendations, their pay was docked and they were subject to a "grueling" review.
“Scores of elderly patients never received the care that they needed, all because UnitedHealthcare skimped on care to cut costs,” one of the nurse practitioners...
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