Maryland Sues UnitedHealth Group Over Defective Medicaid Computer System

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiary Optum Inc. over a defective Medicaid computer system.

The system was contracted for $126.9 million to run Maryland's Medicaid Administrative Services Organization program, which processes and pays medical providers for behavioral health services.

Brown alleges that Optum swapped out the claims management software with an inadequately-tested system from a subcontractor, causing it to crash on its first day of use in 2020.

The issues led to the state taking the system offline for eight months and forced Maryland to use ad hoc estimates to pay healthcare providers, likely costing tens of millions of dollars.