FILE PHOTO: UnitedHealth Group's headquarters building is seen in Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S. in this handout picture taken in 2019. UnitedHealth Group/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

By Sriparna Roy

(Reuters) -U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren are launching an investigation into UnitedHealth Group related to allegations that the company secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to cut hospital transfers of sick residents.

In a letter dated August 6 to UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley, the senators called on the healthcare conglomerate to provide detailed information about its reported incentive programming and its impact on the nursing home residents.

This follows a May report from the UK's Guardian that the company made secret payments to nursing homes, as part of a series of cost-cutting tactics that helped the company save millions but risked residents' health, according to an investigation carried out by the newspaper.

"Nursing home residents and their families should not live in fear of a for-profit health care company withholding care when it is most critical," the senators said in the letter.

They have sought a response from the company by September 8 about its hospitalization policies, directives related to care planning for nursing home residents enrolled in its institutional special needs plans (I-SNPs), marketing practices related to those plans and federal oversight related to them.

The company said it has received the Senators' letter and will continue to educate its staff and share information on the I-SNP model and its proven benefit for seniors.

The allegations stem from an article that misrepresents a program and the U.S. Department of Justice extensively reviewed these allegations and found no evidence of wrongdoing, UnitedHealth said on Thursday.

UnitedHealth is also under investigation by the U.S. DoJ over its Medicare business, a U.S. government program that covers medical costs for individuals aged 65 and older and those with disabilities.

The company said in July it is complying with both criminal and civil requests from the federal agency.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Anil D'Silva)