According to a court filing, Optum plans to finalize its $13 billion merger agreement with Change Healthcare on April 5, 2022. The Justice Department gave the parties permission to conclude the agreement anytime after February 22, 2022, in November.
- New Filing: The new filing indicates that UnitedHealth Group notified Change Healthcare on Dec. 9 of the proposed merger date. The move will align Change Healthcare with OptumInsight and aims to provide Optum with software, data analytics, and other services.
- Meet: At an investment meeting, UnitedHealth Group executives said they were “highly energized” about the deal. The move is the largest acquisition the company has made since its $1.3 billion acquisition of The Advisory Board’s healthcare arm in 2017.
- Reasons: Optum, a fast-growing part of UnitedHealth Group and a key reason the company will eclipse $300 billion in total revenue next year, has said Change Healthcare will become a part of the OptumInsight business “to provide software and data analytics, technology-enabled services and research, advisory and revenue cycle management offerings to help make health care work better for everyone.”
- Notice: In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Change Healthcare said it was delivered a written notice from UnitedHealth on Dec. 9 saying the healthcare giant was “exercising its unilateral right to extend the outside date” of the merger plan and agreement to April 5, 2022.
- Impact: Change Healthcare’s disclosure is consistent with what UnitedHealth executives said at their investor day earlier this month, saying they were “highly energized about the positive impact we can have working together with the exceptional Change team, a team aligned with our mission and values and focused on delivering substantial benefits for the healthcare system.”