News Briefs

✦ First-quarter 2021 revenues for UnitedHealth Group increased 9% from the year-ago quarter to $70.2 billion, driven in part by growth in its UnitedHealthcare business, which recorded quarterly revenue of $55.1 billion, up from $51.1 billion a year ago. The insurer on April 15 said that growth was partly due to strong performance during the 2021 Medicare Annual Election Period and reported overall Medicare Advantage enrollment of 6.3 million, up from 5.7 million as of Dec. 31, 2020. UnitedHealth raised its full-year 2021 adjusted earnings outlook to $18.10 to $18.60 per share. Visit https://bit.ly/3x0T4av.

✦ Nearly half of Medicare Advantage organizations in a recent survey did not include National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) for ordering providers on at least some MA encounter records, observes a new report from the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). CMS does not currently require MAOs to submit the ordering NPI on encounter records for any high-risk services (e.g., durable medical equipment, home health services), although it has previously said it would look into implementing such a requirement. In an online survey conducted by OIG, 81 out of 179 MAO respondents said they lacked ordering NPIs on more than 10% of their encounter records; 36 MAOs in that group stated that this limits their data analyses for program integrity, according to the report. OIG asked that CMS encourage MAOs to conduct oversight activities using ordering NPIs to safeguard the MA program from fraud and abuse; CMS neither concurred nor disagreed. Visit https://bit.ly/2RobaTw.

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• Radar on Medicare Advantage