On April 10, 2018, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled in favor of our client, UnitedHealthcare, in their case against the state Department of Human Services (DHS) for violating the state’s procurement code during a 2015 bid process for the $12 billion in Medicaid physical health services contracts. UnitedHealthcare, a Medicaid provider in the state at the time but not reselected for any areas, protested the bid selections after the discovery of a secret December 2016 meeting of state officials and two top executives of another bidder who ultimately won a contract.
The DHS denied UnitedHealthcare’s protest, but UnitedHealthcare appealed and obtained a stay of the new contracts pending resolution of the appeal, enabling UnitedHealthcare to continue to perform under the existing contracts throughout the appeal for its 400,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. The Commonwealth Court has reversed the agency’s decision, and UnitedHealthcare anticipates that the DHS will resolicit the contract, giving UnitedHealthcare a new opportunity to secure a contract and maintain care for their existing beneficiaries.
Press about this case can be found here and here. The Alston & Bird attorneys who represented UnitedHealthcare in this case were Jeff Belkin, Kelley Barnaby, and Mike Mortorano.