Something Doesn’t Look Right; DOJ Launches Investigation into UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare Billing Practices, Sources Say –Per WSJ

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into UnitedHealth Group’s. This new civil fraud investigation is examining the company’s practices for recording diagnoses that trigger extra payments to its Medicare Advantage plans, including at physician groups the insurance giant owns.

A series of articles in The Wall Street Journal last year showed that Medicare paid UnitedHealth billions of dollars for questionable diagnoses. Attorneys with the Justice Department as recently as Jan. 31 interviewed medical providers named in the articles.

Shares of the company fell nearly 7% to $466.88 in premarket trading.