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January 15, 2021
On Thursday in the District of Minnesota, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UHG), United HealthCare Services Inc. (UHS), and Optum Services Inc. filed a complaint against a former Optum employee for allegedly breaching employment agreements by leaving to work for competitor Anthem Inc. and consequently misappropriating the plaintiffs’ trade secrets.
Tricia Fringer was a “trusted and core member” of Optum’s leadership team, being “one of only five people at the organization authorized to see and approve pricing for Optum’s largest deals” and “one of less than a dozen employees with access to Optum’s confidential information across multiple segments, including … ‘bid’ and ‘win’ strategies; cost of goods sold; and pricing, underwriting, marketing, and product information,” which all are classified as company trade secrets, according to the complaint. Fringer frequently worked on the company’s national accounts — clients serving more than 3,000 members — including UHS.