From a clash with the Justice Department over its acquisition of Change Healthcare to a collaboration with Walmart, here are 10 key stories about UnitedHealth Group that Becker's reported in 2022:
1. UnitedHealth Group said Nov. 29 it is projecting revenues of $357 billion to $360 billion in 2023. The company raised its 2022 outlook to $324 billion.
2. UnitedHealthcare has the largest share of the nation's Medicare Advantage market, according to a Nov. 1 study from the American Medical Association. UnitedHealthcare has 28 percent of the market, followed by Humana at 19 percent.
3. UnitedHealth Group completed its $7.8 billion acquisition of healthcare data and analytics giant Change Healthcare on Oct. 3 after a Washington, D.C., federal judge sided Sept. 19 with the company over the Justice Department's challenge of the deal. The DOJ plans to appeal the ruling.
4. UnitedHealth Group and Walmart said Sept. 7 they are partnering around a value-based care model for Medicare Advantage members and a co-branded health plan. The 10-year collaboration will begin in 2023 at 15 Walmart Health centers in Florida and Georgia, and will be enabled by Optum's analytics and decision support tools.
5. UnitedHealth Group CFO John Rex was added Aug. 24 to a class-action lawsuit alleging he put the company's business relationship with Wells Fargo ahead of information the company's 401(k) plan was filled with low-performing target-date funds.
6. The Supreme Court on June 21 declined to hear UnitedHealthcare's appeal of a CMS rule meant to recoup Medicare Advantage overpayments from payers. The federal rule, first implemented in 2014, requires a payer to refund payments to CMS within 60 days if it learns a diagnosis lacks medical record support. The argument stems from whether CMS must ensure there is actuarial equivalence between Medicare Advantage payments and traditional fee-for-service Medicare payments.
7. Richard Burke, UnitedHealth Group's founder, retired from the company's board of directors June 6. He was first named to the board in 1977.
8. Optum bought Houston-based medical group Kelsey-Seybold Clinic (first reported by Axios in April). In August, UnitedHealth acquired KS Plan Administrators, a Medicare health insurer affiliated with Kelsey-Seybold.
9. Optum agreed to buy Lafayette, La.-based home-health firm LHC Group on March 29 in a $5.4 billion deal. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.
10. UnitedHealthcare reprocessed 1.6 million COVID-19 vaccination claims that shortchanged providers, according to a Jan. 20 congressional report from Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey. The payer allegedly paid providers up to 40 percent less than CMS' recommended $40 reimbursement rate for COVID-19 tests. In October 2021, UnitedHealthcare said it would review claims affected by the underpayment and reprocess them.