UnitedHealth Group has announced that its diversified health services company, Optum, and Change Healthcare will combine. The deal will be worth approximately $8 billion. The combination has a couple of key goals.
- First, the companies project that this combination will ease clinicians workflows and healthcare data exchange. Change Healthcare’s technology aims to help providers access clinical criteria more easily throughout their workflow. Optum can provide better data to integrate into providers workflow with its Individual Health Record and clinical analytics expertise.
- Second, the combination will aim to reduce administrative waste. The combined company will leverage Optum’s advanced data analytics to gain insight from the data in Change Healthcare’s intelligent health network. The resulting insights will help better inform UnitedHealth Group’s strategies and services.
- Third, the combined company will have the ability to streamline payment processes. Optum has a highly automated payment network that can be enhanced by Change Healthcare’s payment capacities. As a result, the companies may be able to leverage real-time payment to deliver providers reimbursements more efficiently.
- Optum will purchase Change Healthcare’s stock at $25.75 per share in cash. The acquisition has yet to receive approval from Change Healthcare’s shareholders and the requisite regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. However, The Blackstone Group, which owns around 20 percent of Change Healthcare’s common stock, has already promised to vote in favour of the move.
- The companies expect that the acquisition will be successful in the second half of 2021. Once finalized, De Crescenzo will become OptumInsight’s chief executive officer. In 2020, UnitedHealth’s Optum partnered with Talkspace to address behavioral healthcare. That same year, the company also launched a concierge-style health plan with Canopy Health and formed a partnership to address vision care and access to eyewear.
