The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has appealed a federal judge's order to recalculate UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage Star Ratings.
Regulators submitted their notice to appeal to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday. CMS' notice did not state the grounds for its appeal.
Related: Why 3 Medicare Advantage insurers sued over star ratings
UnitedHealthcare did not immediately respond to an interview request.
In November, Judge Jeremy Kernoodle ruled CMS violated the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 by improperly reviewing the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary's foreign language call center services in the quality ratings program. Regulators revised UnitedHealthcare's and Centene’s star rating scores the next month, awarding UnitedHealthcare higher ratings in 12 contracts and Centene higher scores in seven contracts. Centene said it anticipated pocketing an additional $200 million in federal payments because of the higher scores.
UnitedHealthcare sued CMS in September, alleging the agency’s review of its call center services did not follow administrative protocol.
Regulators published the star ratings for all insurers in October.
The company’s case represents one of seven ongoing lawsuits CMS faces over the star ratings program from insurers Alignment Health, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Centene, Elevance Health, Florida Blue and Humana.