Judge gives UnitedHealth until April 29 to hand over AI claim denial docs

A Minnesota judge gave UnitedHealth until April 29 to hand over tens of thousands of documents to plaintiffs who claim that the insurer relies on an artificial intelligence algorithm to deny rehabilitation care to seriously ill patients.

Defendants, including UnitedHealth Group Inc., UnitedHealthcare and naviHealth Inc., had requested the 30-day extension to comply with a recent discovery order, citing the volume and complexity of records spanning nearly a decade.

In a court filing, the companies said they were unable to meet the original March 30 deadline set by the court after it partially granted plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery on March 9.

“Defendants’ inability to meet the deadline stems not from any inaction, but rather from the challenges in collection, particularly for records going back nearly nine years, and the volume of data,” UnitedHealth attorneys wrote.

Plaintiffs did not oppose the extension, provided they receive a 45-day extension of their own May 15 deadline to submit expert declarations related to an expected motion for class certification.

Magistrate Judge Shannon G. Elkins granted the extra month to UnitedHealth without comment.

'Kicked out of care facilities'

The lawsuit dates to November 2023, with plaintiffs claiming that UnitedHealth relies on an algorithm to deny rehabilitation care to seriously ill patients, even as UnitedHealth is aware that the algorithm has “a 90% error rate.”

“The fraudulent scheme affords Defendants a clear financial windfall in the form of policy premiums and federal funding without having to pay for promised care,” the lawsuit alleges, “while the elderly are prematurely kicked out of care facilities nationwide or forced to deplete family savings to continue receiving necessary medical care, all because an AI model ‘disagrees’ with their real live doctors’ determinations.”

The lawsuit was filed by past patients or their heirs who had a UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan. It followed an in-depth investigation by STAT, which covers health and science news, detailing how UnitedHealth allegedly used a computer algorithm to cut off care to older patients.

The STAT report claimed that internal documents show UnitedHealth managers set a goal for clinical employees to keep patients' rehab stays within 1% of the days projected by the algorithm.

UnitedHealth Group purchased NaviHealth, an automated care management system, in May of 2020 for over $1 billion. It is behind nH Predict, the AI model that UnitedHealth uses in patient care. The health insurer has said it uses the AI tool merely as “a guide” in making decisions.

In its motion for dismissal, largely denied in February 2025, UnitedHealth argued that the patients named in the lawsuit had not completed appeals to their insurance claims being denied.

A spokesperson for UnitedHealth previously sent InsuranceNewsNet this statement:

"Our number one priority is to ensure patients are receiving the care they need. That’s the purpose of the naviHealth tool – it is used by our clinical care support team to suggest the care and services they should be receiving during their time in the facility or after returning home and to help patients, as well as their families, caregivers and providers, plan for their next step in care. We believe the lawsuit is based on unfounded allegations and mischaracterizes the incredibly valuable work of our experienced and compassionate clinicians. Coverage decisions are only made by medical directors – not by AI - in accordance with CMS Medicare coverage criteria."

Complexity and volume cited

UnitedHealth said it began work "immediately" after the court’s March 9 order, which requires responses to nine document requests and four interrogatories, some of which cover a nine-year period. Since then, the defendants say they have reviewed more than 40,000 documents and produced over 60,000 pages in the case.

However, certain categories of data require additional time due to the multiple steps involved, including identification, collection, processing, review and production, UnitedHealth said.

The materials at issue include previously collected documents, new custodial data from earlier time periods, records produced in other legal matters and targeted collections such as internal policies, training materials and records tied to an internal artificial intelligence review board.

The companies said they have initiated a rolling production of documents and are continuing to process thousands more records, including nearly 10,000 documents collected from earlier timeframes that require multiple levels of review.

One request, involving the identification of hundreds of individuals and related employment records, was described as particularly complex and still in progress.

UnitedHealth efforts have involved coordination among in-house and outside counsel, employees across multiple departments and an external e-discovery vendor, court documents say.

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.