Home panel investigates One Medical for allegedly letting customers cut Covid vaccine line

A congressional committee overseeing the Covid-19 crisis has opened an investigation into concierge health care provider One Medical for reporting administering vaccines to family and friends of executives and wealthy clients who do not were not yet eligible in their state.

Representative James Clyburn, DS.C., chairman of the House selection subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, sent a letter to One Medical CEO Amir Dan Rubin on Monday, requesting documents on their allocation practices vaccines.

As the supply of Covid-19 vaccines remains scarce, state health departments have rationed doses to priority groups of people, primarily frontline healthcare workers, the elderly, and people with health problems. underlying health that puts them at higher risk. In the letter, Clyburn alleged that San Francisco-based One Medical “has repeatedly and intentionally ignored vaccine eligibility criteria in several cities and states over the past two months.”

One Medical, which has a market capitalization of approximately $ 6.4 billion, provides VIP healthcare services to clients in exchange for an annual fee of $ 199. The company, which went public last year as 1Life Healthcare, operates in nine states and the District of Columbia, according to its site.

“Although it was warned that the company’s lax oversight of vaccine eligibility rules allowed ineligible patients to skip the line, One Medical reportedly failed to properly implement an effective protocol to verify eligibility. and asked staff not to check eligibility, ”Clyburn wrote.

“I am deeply concerned that the refusal of medical providers to adhere to vaccination prioritization guidelines and the intentional diversion of doses to people in lower priority groups could cost Americans more lives and delay or even derail the containment of the virus across the country, “Clyburn wrote.

Representatives for One Medical did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Shares of One Medical fell more than 1% in Tuesday morning trading.

The congressional investigation comes after NPR obtained internal communications from the company last week that showed it routinely allowed high net worth clients and people with connections to corporate executives to cut the line of business. waiting for the vaccine. In some of the cities where One Medical operates, the company has been allocated thousands of doses of rare vaccines, NPR reported.

The complaints against the company prompted regulators, including the Washington state health department, to halt vaccine distribution to One Medical, according to NPR.

“These reports raise concerns that the company could exploit the deployment of federally funded vaccines to increase membership rates and generate fees, regardless of whether potential paying members are actually eligible for vaccination.” , Clyburn wrote in the letter to the company.

NPR reported that some healthcare providers have urged One Medical to change its practice.

“Why are young patients with no health issues, on a trial membership … allowed to book and receive a covid vaccine while healthcare workers are on the waiting list?” a medical professional asked in January, according to internal communications obtained by NPR. “I just saw two dates for so and so.”

In response to similar questions, employees were asked not to prevent patients from getting vaccinated.

“If that person sees themselves in a bearing being vaccinated, they can attest to that and make an appointment,” said Spencer Blackman, the company’s director of clinical training, in a note to a doctor, according to NPR. . “You can’t make the decision if someone ‘gets’ [a] vaccine or not. “