Chamber 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 One Medical by a health care provider for reports that vaccinated relatives and friends of executives and wealthy clients who were not yet eligible for their states.

Representative James Clyburn, DS.C., chairman of the House Selective Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Crisis, sent a letter to One Medical CEO Amir Dan Rubin on Monday seeking documents on his allocation practices. of vaccines.

As the supply of Covid-19 vaccines remains scarce, state health departments have rationed doses to prioritized groups of people, primarily front-line health workers, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions that put them at risk. In the letter, Clyburn alleged that San Francisco-based One Medical “has repeatedly and intentionally ignored eligibility requirements for the vaccine in several cities and states over the past two months.”

One Medical, which has a market capitalization of about $ 6.4 billion, provides VIP health care services to clients in exchange for an annual fee of $ 199. The company, which went public last year under the name 1Life Healthcare, operates in nine states and the District of Columbia, depending on its location.

“Despite being warned that lax oversight of the company’s vaccine eligibility rules allowed ineligible patients to skip the line, One Medical would have adequately breached an effective protocol to verify eligibility and instructed staff that he did not fulfill it, “Clyburn wrote.

“I am deeply concerned that medical providers’ refusal to comply with vaccination prioritization guidelines and intentional dose diversion to individuals in lower-priority groups could cost more U.S. lives and delay or even derail the containment of the virus. across the country, ”Clyburn wrote.

One Medical representatives 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 last week NPR obtained internal communications from the company demonstrating that it routinely allowed wealthy customers and people with connections to company leaders to cut the vaccine line. In some of the cities where One Medical operates, the company has been assigned thousands of doses of scarce vaccines, NPR reported.

Complaints about the company have caused regulators, including the Washington State Department of Health, to stop distributing vaccines to One Medical, according to NPR.

“These reports raise concerns that the company may exploit the deployment of Federation-funded vaccines to increase membership fees and generate quotas, regardless of whether potential members paying quotas are eligible for vaccination,” Clyburn wrote. a la carte to the company.

NPR reported that some health care providers urged One Medical to change its practice.

“Why are young patients without health problems, who belong to a trial trial … allowed to reserve and receive a covetous vaccine while health workers are on the waiting list?” asked a medical professional in January, according to internal communications obtained by NPR. “I just saw two appointments for that.”

In response to similar questions, employees were told not to ban patients from the vaccine.

“If that person sees themselves on a vaccinated level, they can attest to that and make an appointment,” Spencer Blackman, the company’s director of clinical education, said in a note to a doctor, according to NPR. “Decision cannot be made if someone” succeeds ” [a] vaccine or not “.