UnitedHealth's Optum loses patent suit, will pay $12 million
Jury finds Optum used a methodology for physician analysis that was already patented.
Optum, a major player in provider data and finance services, will pay the $12 million San Mateo, California-based Cave Consulting Group for using and licensing a methodology for physician analysis that was already patented.
UnitedHealth Group’s bustling services and technology subsidiary Optum will pay $12 million for patent infringement, a federal jury in California ruled this week.
Optum, a major player in provider data and finance services, will pay the $12 million to San Mateo, California-based Cave Consulting Group.
Cave, which offers software analysis of physician performance for health insurers and health systems, accused OptumInsight of using and licensing a methodology for physician analysis that was already patented by Cave.
[Also: UnitedHealth buying pharmacy benefits manager for $12.8 billion]
“The jury found that Optum’s Impact Intelligence software infringed because it uses a pre-defined set of medical conditions to evaluate each specialty type,” said Douglas Cave, president of Cave Consulting Group. Cave said the patent, filed in 2004 and published in 2010, protects an “advanced approach to analyzing physician efficiency” and has become the industry standard.
“Cave Consulting Group has invested significant time and effort to determine and develop the most appropriate methods for obtaining reliable and stable physician efficiency scores, and we are relieved that the jury was willing to help us protect that hard work.”
Optum, on the other hand, claimed that Cave Consulting Group infringed eight of OptumInsight’s patents related to medical claims data processing. Those claims were rejected.
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While UHG is not commenting on the results of the trial, the subsidiary of the nation’s largest health insurer is still making deals this year with its $12 billion acquisition of the drug benefits manager Catamaran and a takeover of MedExpress, a national walk-in clinic chain, for an undisclosed price..
The MedExpress deal will bolster UHG’s footprint in the growing convenient primary care space. There are currently nine Optum Clinics, most in Texas, and MedExpress brings 141 full-service neighborhood clinics in 11 states and planned expansion by another 25 this year.
Twitter: @AnthonyBrino
