A judge on Thursday ordered UnitedHealthcare officials to return documents the state’s public health care agency gave it for fear that some of the information may contain trade secrets.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly M. Esmond Adams ruling came as UnitedHealthcare continues to press its legal case against the Georgia Department of Community Health, arguing that the agency used a secret bidding process to keep it from winning a lucrative state contract.
DCH last month said it would hold a new bid on part of the $3 billion business of proving health care to 650,000 teachers, state employees, retirees and family members. But the larger contract, to manage the program, is slated to go to United’s rival, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia starting Jan.1.
Lawyers for UnitedHealthcare have been filing open records requests for documents about the process since before Blue Cross and Blue Shield was announced as the contract’s likely winner.
Adams ordered UnitedHealthcare to return flash drives containing information given to them by the DCH and ordered the company not to copy any information off of them. In turn, DCH was ordered to provide non-trade secret documents to UnitedHealthcare.
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