January 26, 2022
Linda Simmons
Vice President, National Lab Program
UnitedHealthcare
9900 Bren Rd E, Minnetonka, MN 55343
Via email to linda_m_stewart@uhc.com
RE: Designated Diagnostic Provider
Dear Ms. Simmons:
The undersigned physician and hospital organizations are writing to express consistent and collective concerns about UnitedHealthcare’s (UHC) Designated Diagnostic Provider (DDP) program. While we appreciate the outreach UHC has conducted and the open channels it has maintained over the past year in explaining the details of how DDP is designed to function—along with the subsequent clarifications and overhaul to this program—we nevertheless urge UHC to forego the current approach and instead seek closer stakeholder collaboration with and input from the undersigned professional medical organizations. We believe that patients and their physicians, who depend on outpatient hospital and independent pathology laboratory services, deserve timely access to diagnostic laboratory services as directed and deemed appropriate by the ordering physician.