Medicare Advantage plans received $4.2 billion in payments for questionable home visits, report says

Medicare Advantage plans received $4.2 billion in extra payments last year by conducting home visits to seniors for health risk assessments. Concerns were raised about potential misuse of these assessments and the lack of follow-up care for diagnoses. UnitedHealthcare and Humana were the top beneficiaries of these payments. Medicare Advantage plans may be receiving billions more from chart reviews linked to HRAs. The report also found that some diagnoses made during home visits were not supported by visits to health care facilities. UnitedHealth Group was singled out for its use of HRAs to generate payments.