Keep pulling the thread on Tara Banau.
UnitedHealth now owns one in ten of the country's doctors.
According to doctors interviewed by Stat, UnitedHealth transforms the medical practices it acquires into "assembly lines" designed to drive profit.
In 2022, UnitedHealth acquired Atreus Health, which was the largest independent physician group in Massachusetts at the time.
Doctors at UnitedHealth-owned practices reported being pressured to apply more medical codes to their Medicare Advantage patients, even when they disagreed with the diagnoses.
Doctors at UnitedHealth-owned practices reported being pressured to apply the medical code for peripheral vascular disease to patients who only had varicose veins.
At UnitedHealth-owned practices, doctors' bonus payments and job performance evaluations were affected by their application of specific medical codes.
Patients at UnitedHealth-owned practices discovered new diagnoses on their medical charts, such as chronic kidney disease or opioid use disorder, that were never discussed with them by their doctor.
United Health is the largest insurer in the United States.
United Health is the largest physician group in the United States.
United Health is the fourth largest company of any type in the United States by revenue, ranking just behind Apple.
UnitedHealthcare is the second largest Medicare Advantage insurer in Massachusetts, according to data from the American Medical Association.