UnitedHealth paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers, Guardian reports

UnitedHealth (UNH) secretly paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers for ailing residents, part of a series of cost-cutting efforts that has saved the company millions, but at times risked residents’ health, a Guardian investigation has found, George Joseph reports. In several cases identified by the Guardian, nursing home residents who needed immediate hospital care under the program failed to receive it, after interventions from UnitedHealth staffers, with at least one living with permanent brain damage following his delayed transfer. The Guardian’s investigation is based on thousands of confidential corporate and patient records obtained through sources, public records requests and court files, interviews with more than 20 current and former UnitedHealth and nursing home employees, and two whistleblower declarations submitted to Congress this month through the nonprofit legal group Whistleblower Aid. UnitedHealth says the suggestion that its employees have prevented hospital transfers “is verifiably false.”