### Senate Probe Reveals Top Insurers Deny Senior Rehab Care Using Advanced Tech

In recent years, the three largest Medicare Advantage insurers in the United States have increasingly denied coverage for rehabilitative care to senior citizens. A Senate investigation has highlighted that this trend coincided with these insurers' adoption of advanced technologies to streamline their coverage decisions. The companies under scrutiny—UnitedHealth Group, Humana, and CVS Health—specifically targeted denials for seniors seeking care in nursing homes, inpatient rehab hospitals, and long-term care facilities.

According to the congressional report released by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, by 2022, these three major insurers were rejecting approximately 25% of all requests for post-acute care from their Medicare Advantage plan members. This revelation sheds light on the impact that the integration of technology has had on healthcare decision-making processes.

The Senate report heavily references an investigative series published by STAT last year, which examined the utilization of algorithms and artificial intelligence in Medicare Advantage plans. The investigation particularly focused on the practices of UnitedHealth and its subsidiary NaviHealth, revealing that unregulated algorithms were being used to determine when a patient could be discharged from rehab care. STAT's findings showed that UnitedHealth employees were often pressured to follow the algorithmic recommendations, even in cases where patients were still struggling with basic mobility and were clearly not ready to be sent home.

This congressional probe underscores a significant issue at the intersection of healthcare and technology, raising concerns about the ethical implications of denying vital care based on algorithmic predictions. The findings call into question the balance between technological efficiency and patient well-being in the administration of Medicare Advantage plans.