(Reuters) -UnitedHealth has begun complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the U.S. Department of Justice after media reports about investigations into its participation in the Medicare program, according to a filing.
This is the first time the healthcare conglomerate has publicly acknowledged the probes. Shares of the healthcare conglomerate fell nearly 4% to $280.90 in premarket trading.
The company has full confidence in its practices and is committed to cooperating with the DOJ throughout
this process, according to the filing.
Medicare is a U.S. government program that covers medical costs for individuals aged 65 and older as well as those with disabilities.
The Wall Street Journal has published a series of reports stating the DOJ is investigating UnitedHealth's Medicare business.
The WSJ reported earlier this month that former employees of UnitedHealth were questioned by prosecutors working for the healthcare-fraud unit in recent weeks about the company's efforts to record specific diagnoses that generate higher payments and document lucrative diagnoses, including testing patients and sending nurses to patients' homes.
Once considered a reliable bet, the healthcare behemoth has lost its appeal following a series of management missteps. UnitedHealth's stock has fallen more than 40% so far this year.
Independent CMS audits confirm that UnitedHealth's practices are among the most accurate in the industry, the company said.
It added that following a decade-long civil challenge by the department to aspects of its Medicare Advantage business, a court-appointed Special Master concluded there was no evidence to support claims of wrongdoing.
The company has proactively launched its own initiative to conduct third-party reviews of policies, practices, associated processes and performance metrics for risk assessment coding, managed care practices, and pharmacy services, it added.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)
