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UnitedHealth admits to big loss of PacifiCare patients

December 5, 2007 — 7:59am ET

UnitedHealth Group's current troubles apparently go beyond ongoing investigations into stock option grant-backdating. At an investor conference this week, UnitedHealth executives said that they're facing some big problems in integrating its PacifiCare unit, which it acquired December 2006 for $8.1 billion in stock and cash.

UHG officials said that PacifiCare lost 315,000 customers this year, a problem which they attributed to customer service problems. They also admitted that both doctors and customers were frustrated by its efforts to integrate PacifiCare into its overall operations. To address these issues, UHG execs said that they're going to make some major changes, including establishing systems to reimburse doctors more promptly, offering patients and doctors real-time information on claims payment and establishing incentives for better customer service.

To find out more about UHG's problems and proposed solutions:
- read this Business Courier of Cincinnati piece

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Comments (3) | Post a comment

Comments

By Anonymous | Posted 5:57pm | December 5, 2007

I am a solo physician. I am dropping out of United Health Plan in February 2008. Paying physicians 50% of what it costs to see the patient more quickly doesn't do anything but make us realize it would be crazy to do buisness with United Health Plan. Good luck, all the other docs in my area have already dropped out. No patients, no doctors, no insurance will survive. Jeve

By anne | Posted 8:55am | December 6, 2007

If UHG is truly paying at that low a level nationwide--and anecdotal evidence suggests that it is--how does it benefit?  I realize that health plans have an incentive to keep costs down as much as possible, but once payments drop below a certain level, it stops making sense. One would think that if payments are below acceptable levels, it would not serve even UHG's interests, due to mass defections by physicians. Any thoughts, folks?

By Richard Becker | Posted 3:42pm | December 11, 2007

They are worried about customers dropping? They just dropped us because they made a mistake on adjusting our rates. The integration doesn't seem to be a PacifiCare problem as much as a customer service problem. Still, I'm thankful they dropped us. We will paying half the amount for a better plan come Jan.

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