The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reversed course Friday on a plan to appeal UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage star ratings win.
Outgoing U.S. Attorney Damien Diggs notified the court on his last day in office Tuesday that CMS intended to appeal the unfavorable ruling. Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin Jr. reversed course on his first day in office, swiftly withdrawing the notice to appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Related: Why 3 Medicare Advantage insurers sued over star ratings
Legal filings did not state the grounds under which CMS planned to appeal, or why the agency walked back its plan.
CMS has paused commenting on matters that are not “directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health” in the short-term, an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
The Justice Department, UnitedHealthcare and McGlothin did not immediately respond to interview requests.
UnitedHealthcare sued CMS in September, alleging regulators violated the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 by failing to follow statutory requirements when reviewing the company’s foreign language call center services when calculating star ratings.
CMS issued the industry-wide ratings the next month. Among large insurers, UnitedHealthcare experienced one of the most dramatic drops in scores. In its lawsuit, the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary alleged the decline improperly cost the company “tens of millions” in federal payments.
In November, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Kernoodle handed UnitedHealthcare a win and ordered CMS to revise the insurer’s scores. CMS awarded UnitedHealthcare higher ratings in 12 contracts in December.
CMS doles out large bonuses to insurers that earn at least four out of five stars in the federal quality ratings program. Regulators face six other ongoing Medicare Advantage star ratings cases from insurers looking to boost their scores.
