(Reuters) -UnitedHealth Group said on Wednesday a mistake at the hospital was behind the phone call that led to a surgeon being pulled from the operating room to defend a patient’s inpatient stay, a move that was eventually criticized by billionaire Bill Ackman.
UnitedHealth said that it had already approved the treatment and overnight stay for the surgeon Elisabeth Potter’s patient before the call. Its representative called the hospital to discuss a request for a separate inpatient stay.
“Our representative asked to speak to the nurse caring for the patient. He did not ask to be transferred to the operating room department, did not ask to speak with the physician while she was in surgery and never asked the doctor to leave surgery,” the company said.
The hospital where the incident took place was identified as HCA St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported on the matter.
HCA Healthcare did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Earlier this month, Potter posted on social media platform X, saying she was called out of an operating room to justify her patient’s care to the insurer.
On February 17, Pershing Square’s CEO Ackman said that UnitedHealth sent a defamation letter to Potter and added that he offered to pay her legal bills.
Ackman had previously posted on X that, if he still shorted stocks, he would take a short position in the healthcare conglomerate.
On February 17, the billionaire investor said that the now-deleted post was based on Potter’s experience. He said he deleted the post after the law firm Clare Locke contacted his firm to say that Dr. Potter’s claims were false and that he should take down his post.
“I believe that Dr. Potter told the truth in her initial video and in her statements and advocacy,” Ackman said.
Shares of UnitedHealth closed up 2%. The stock fell more than 4% on Tuesday after Ackman’s post.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi and Alan Barona)
