UnitedHealth criminal probe broader than Medicare, Bloomberg reports

The Justice Department’s criminal division is digging into UnitedHealth (UNH) Group’s pharmacy benefit manager Optum Rx as well as how it reimburses its own doctors under an ongoing probe, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Chris Strohm and John Tozzi. The previously unreported areas of the probe show the scrutiny is broader than was known and goes beyond an inquiry into possible Medicare fraud, said the report, which added that the Justice Department hasn’t accused UnitedHealth or its executives of wrongdoing and the existence of a probe doesn’t mean that charges will be filed. UnitedHealth referred Bloomberg to a July filing in which the company said it was responding to civil and criminal Justice Department probes and has “full confidence in its practices.”