UnitedHealth
UnitedHealth UK is a private healthcare company, which since 2002 has been working with all levels of the NHS, including Primary Care Trusts, Strategic Health Authorities, GP Commissioning Groups and the Department of Health.
The company offers a range of services from commissioning to managing primary care services and general practices.[1]
Contents
US private healthcare
UnitedHealth UK is owned by the UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest health insurers in the USA. It serves more than 75 million people worldwide.
A bigger piece of the NHS
In July 2010 it was awarded a contract from the UK Department of Health to advise primary care trusts, beating Bupa, another US health insurer.
Like Humana, Aetna, and Tribal, Humana is poised to cash in on the government's proposed changes to NHS commissioning, which will see budgets handed over to GPs. It has produced 'The Essential Guide to GP Commissioning' with the National Association of Primary Care.[2]
Controversy
The Guardian reported in July 2010 how UnitedHealth has faced accusations of overcharging and malpractice in a series of legal suits.[3]
- In 2008 it agreed to pay $50m after the New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo sued the company "as part of a broad probe into how insurers pay doctors and hospitals that aren't in the companies networks". According to Cuomo, UnitedHealth's Ingenix unit operated a "defective and manipulated database" to set charges for medical services.
- Its California subsidiary was fined a record $3.5m in the same year for mishandled claims against patients and doctors. In 2006 The UnitedHealth chief executive William McGuire resigned after an investigation "concluded he had received stock option grants 'likely backdated' to allow insiders to maximise financial gains." During his tenure as chief executive, McGuire was granted more than $1.6bn in stock options. In 2007, McGuire avoided trial after he agreed to repay $468m.
People
Simon Stevens, Executive vice president, UnitedHealth Group. According to the Health Service Journal, Stevens: "The man behind new Labour’s NHS reforms is now neck deep in the battle to reinvent US healthcare. He appears in the HSJ100 because his example demonstrates what radical reform can achieve - even Tory policy wonks revere him. More importantly he keeps tabs on what is happening in the NHS and, quietly, makes his opinion known."[4]
Contacts
3rd Floor, 3 Sheldon Square
London W2 6HY
Website: http://www.unitedhealthuk.co.uk
References
- ↑ UnitedHealth UKWhat we do, accessed Nov 2010
- ↑ United Health UK The Essential Guide to GP Commissioning, accessed November 2010
- ↑ Phillip Inman,UnitedHealth: Big profits but some questions, 16 July 2010
- ↑ Health Service Journal, HSJ100 2010, 17 November, 2010
