A letter from the executive editor: STAT’s investigation into a UnitedHealth algorithm
I want to bring your attention to a vitally important investigation STAT has published today. For more than a year, our reporters have documented how the use of artificial intelligence is driving denial of claims or delaying treatment for seriously ill patients.
This latest story goes even deeper, establishing how the denial of claims was by design. We reveal that the nation’s largest health insurance company pursued a strategy to pressure its medical staff to cut off payments for seriously ill patients in lockstep with a computer algorithm’s calculations, denying rehabilitation care for older and disabled Americans as profits soared.
