The US Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. Investigators have interviewed healthcare industry representatives in sectors where UnitedHealth competes, including doctor groups, the report said.
DOJ investigators have asked about relationships between the company’s UnitedHealthcare insurance unit and its Optum Health arm, which owns physician groups, among other assets. Optum Health offers a range of healthcare solutions, including pharmacy benefit management, financial consultation, and mental health support.
The WSJ also reported that the DOJ is examining UnitedHealth’s Medicare billing practices to see if doctors are aggressively characterizing patients’ illnesses to wrongly increase payments from the government and about possible impacts of the company’s doctor-group acquisitions on rivals and consumers.
