UnitedHealth Used Aggressive Diagnosing Strategy to Boost Federal Funding for Medicare Advantage: Senate Report

The Senate report stated that the insurer has turned risk adjustment into a major profit-centered strategy, raising costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

A view of the UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s campus is shown in Minnetonka, Minn., on Oct. 16, 2012. Jim Mone/AP Photo

UnitedHealth Group uses aggressive tactics to maximize federal payments by capturing high-paying, often discretionary, medical diagnoses, according to a report by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The insurer uses high-tech scanners and a team of specialists to identify problems in enrollees—including minor ones—to ensure the insurer obtains the maximum funding possible, even if that money is not used to treat the added diagnoses, according to the Jan. 12 report.