What is Optum Health?
UnitedHealth Group launched Optum in 2011. The company’s main divisions are Optum Health, Insight, and RX. According to their website, Optum Health has over 2,000 physician groups and ambulatory care locations in 25 states that provide primary, specialized, urgent, and surgical care.
Optum Insight provides data, analytics, research, consulting, technology, and managed services, according to its website. Hospitals can minimize administrative costs, meet compliance requirements, and improve clinical performance. Optum RX provides pharmacy treatment. Optum RX fills 1.5 billion adjusted retail, mail, and specialty medicine prescriptions annually, per their website.
Steward Health Care, the for-profit company that operates Brockton’s Good Samaritan Medical Center and Taunton’s Morton Hospital, announced in March that it will sell its bankrupt company to UnitedHealth Group’s Optum.
According to the notice of material change form, Optum would acquire all issued and outstanding capital shares of Steward Health Inc., including its physicians, in nine states, including Massachusetts.
Optum Health makes bid for Steward Health
The steward announced plans to transfer ownership to Optum in March, according to a Health Policy Commission notice of major change under evaluation.
Optum would acquire all issued and outstanding capital shares of Steward Health Inc., which includes its primary care doctors and clinicians in nine states, including Massachusetts, according to the notice of material change form.
The sole stakeholder of Steward Health Inc., Steward Operative Holdings (SOH), does not expect the proposed agreement with Optum to immediately affect reimbursement rates, care referral patterns, access to needed services, or quality of care.
As of May, the Health Policy Commission is analyzing the deal. According to the Boston Globe, the commission can inform state and federal antitrust investigations about Steward’s merger with Optum but cannot prevent it. Only the Attorney General can prohibit the deal under Massachusetts antitrust rules.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Optum Health product-focused?
Optum Health, part of UnitedHealth Group, is not solely product-focused but operates as a diversified health services company. It focuses on providing an array of health management services, including data analytics, pharmacy care services, and healthcare delivery. Optum aims to improve overall health system performance by offering integrated services that support both providers and patients, emphasizing value-based care rather than just healthcare products. This approach includes technology-driven solutions to enhance health care efficiency and outcomes.
2. Who is Optum’s CEO?
Optum Health CEO, Dr. Amar A. Desai, was appointed in July 2023. He accelerates a patient-centered, value-based care paradigm to enhance patient outcomes and experiences while cutting costs.
3. In healthcare, what does Optum mean?
The American healthcare corporation Optum, Inc. provides technology, pharmaceutical care, and direct healthcare services.