BUSINESS BRIEFING / HEALTHCARE

UnitedHealth Group Inc. will close much-criticized databases that health insurers use to set payment rates and will help launch a new one to settle a fraud investigation.

The deal with the New York attorney general’s office could allow millions of patients to pay less for out-of-network care.

The Minnetonka, Minn., health insurer has agreed to pay $50 million to set up the new database, which will be run by a nonprofit organization such as a university, according to the deal.

The new database will replace two run by UnitedHealth’s Ingenix Inc. subsidiary that are used to determine “usual and customary” payment rates for care that patients seek outside their insurance network. New York authorities alleged that the Ingenix databases led to insurance underpayments of 10% to 28%, and consumers often saw the difference in their bills.