From a shareholder seeking to separate the company’s CEO and board chair roles, to Optum planning to buy a Massachusetts medical group, here are 10 updates on UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiaries that Becker’s has reported since Sept. 19:
1. Ascension Wisconsin is back in network with UnitedHealthcare after initial negotiations had failed to produce a suitable contract for both parties and affected Ascension Wisconsin locations were briefly out of network.
2. Optum’s Massachusetts-based subsidiary Atrius Health plans to acquire Acton Medical Associates, a 45-provider primary care group serving nearly 37,000 patients in the Boston area.
3. UnitedHealthcare’s Mid-Atlantic CEO Joseph Ochipinti called out Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine and Fulton, Md.-based Capital Women’s Care in what he called “cynical” contract negotiation strategies.
4. A shareholder of UnitedHealth Group put forward a proposal calling for the appointment of an independent chairperson for the company’s board that is separate from the CEO position.
5. UnitedHealth named Michael Pencina, PhD, as its chief AI scientist, following his departure from Durham, N.C.-based Duke University and Duke Health.
6. UnitedHealth was one of three health insurers named among the top 50 companies that are effectively adopting and scaling the use of artificial intelligence by Fortune. The company ranked highest among healthcare organizations at No. 25.
7. UnitedHealth asked a Minnesota federal court to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit filed against it by the country’s largest pension fund. The lawsuit, originally filed by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) in May 2024 and amended multiple times, accuses UnitedHealth of securities fraud related to Medicare Advantage, alleging the company misled investors about its operations, including MA billing practices that inflated its revenue.
8. Dan Kueter, CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s employer and individual insurance business, spoke with Becker’s about new offerings from the company and the latest trends in the industry.
9. UnitedHealthcare paid $359 million in ACA-required rebates for 2024.
10. UnitedHealth named Sandeep Dadlani as CEO of Optum Insight, the company’s data and analytics arm.
