01:07 PM EST, 02/21/2025 (MT Newswires) -- UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ) on Friday refuted claims by The Wall Street Journal that the US Department of Justice had launched an investigation into the health insurer's Medicare billing practices.

The Journal reported Friday, citing sources, that the DOJ was looking into UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) protocol for recording diagnoses that prompt additional payments to its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. The Journal said that the new civil fraud investigation was launched in recent months.

Prior WSJ reports show that Medicare paid the company "billions of dollars" for dubious diagnoses, according to the latest report by the Journal. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General is also involved in the latest probe, the Journal reported Friday.

UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) shares were down 8.9% in afternoon trade.

"We are not aware of the 'launch' of any 'new' activity as reported by the Journal," the company said in a statement. "Any suggestion that our practices are fraudulent is outrageous and false."

The government routinely reviews all MA plans to ensure compliance, UnitedHealth ( UNH ) said.

"We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigations, should there be any," a Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General spokesperson told MT Newswires in an e-mailed statement. The DOJ didn't reply to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

Late last year, UnitedHealth ( UNH ) and Amedisys ( AMED ) agreed to extend the deadline of their proposed merger as the deal faced scrutiny from the DOJ over competition concerns.

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