UnitedHealth Group, parent company of ASC management company United Surgical Partners International, has continued its growth, both in terms of revenue and number of affiliated physicians.
Here are eight updates on the company since April 4:
1. In March, insurer UnitedHealthcare announced changes to its prior authorization rules for certain gastroenterology procedures that were set to go into effect June 1. The night before changes were supposed to take effect, UHC reversed its plans, opting instead for a "gold card" program.
2. John Rex, executive vice president and CFO of UnitedHealth Group, earned $15.8 million in total compensation in 2022.
3. UnitedHealth has seen its annual revenue increase by more than $100 billion since 2012.
4. UnitedHealthcare's 2023 site-of-service policy, which went into effect April 1, could push procedures to the ASC setting.
5. Envision Healthcare, a physician services company, was awarded $91.2 million in its arbitration against United Healthcare for underpayment of essential medical care from 2017 to 2018 while the two had an in-network agreement.
6. UnitedHealthcare made nine changes to its reimbursement policies for its commercial, individual and family, and Medicare Advantage plans, some of which went into effect June 1 while others won't until August 1.
7. UnitedHealth Group's Optum, parent company of ASC chain SCA Health, is now affiliated with more than 70,000 physicians.
8. UnitedHealthcare plans to cut back on its use of prior authorization, removing procedures and medical devices from its list of services requiring signoff and reducing the number of authorizations from 13 million to 10 million annually.