Wyden and Warren Launch Major Investigation Into UnitedHealth Nursing Home Practices
After Reports of Delayed Hospitalizations and Aggressive Tactics to Lower Nursing Home Costs, Senior Senators Demand Details from Largest Health Company in the Nation
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., launched an investigation of UnitedHealth Group’s (UHG) cost reduction tactics in nursing homes, after reports that these business practices have resulted in harm to seniors and people with disabilities.
“We are writing in response to alarming reports of UnitedHealth Group (UHG) padding revenues through cost-cutting programs that imperil the health, safety, and lives of vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities living in nursing homes,” Wyden and Warren wrote in a letter addressed to UHG leadership. “We are concerned that these bonus programs provide a heavy incentive to nursing homes to limit hospitalizations of all kinds, even where necessary, in order to meet a metric that can be poorly suited to measure patient health and safety. Nursing home residents and their families should not live in fear of a for-profit health care company withholding care when it is most critical.”
The investigation follows reports that residents in UHG-contracted nursing homes have experienced delays in hospitalization that may be attributable to incentive schemes that offer bonuses to nursing homes to maintain hospitalization rates below a certain threshold. In some instances, reporting alleges that these delays have resulted in permanent harm to residents, such as delayed treatment of a stroke. Reports also allege that UHG subsidiary Optum, which contracts directly with nursing homes, aggressively pushes residents to sign Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) or Do Not Intubate (DNI) orders as a part of the company’s broader cost savings program.
In the letter, Wyden and Warren request documents and information from the company about its reported nursing home incentive programs related to hospitalization policies, advance directives and marketing practices. The letter also seeks information about the role of federal and state oversight in UHG’s nursing home line of business.
The letter to UnitedHealth Group can be found here.
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