(Wall Street Journal) – Civil probe of diagnoses that triggered extra payments to the company’s Medicare Advantage plans adds to scrutiny of the healthcare giant

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare billing practices in recent months, people familiar with the matter said.

The new civil fraud investigation is examining the company’s practices for recording diagnoses that trigger extra payments to its Medicare Advantage plans, including at physician groups the insurance giant owns.

A series of articles in The Wall Street Journal last year showed that Medicare paid UnitedHealth billions of dollars for questionable diagnoses. (Read More)