OptumCare, the part of UnitedHealth Group that renders direct patient care, designs on adding thousands of physicians in the next year. The company declared plans to add 10,000 physicians in 2021 earlier this year, and Wyatt Decker, CEO of OptumHealth, said Optum is on track to surpass that number. Optum now has 56,000 affiliated, contracted, and employed practitioners.
- The statement came as UnitedHealth posted a gain of $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, down about 38 % from $3.5 billion in the same period of 2019. In its Jan. 20 financial statement, UnitedHealth said the dissolution was anticipated as care patterns normalized and costs related to COVID-19 care grew.
- Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group and Optum, said OptumCare, which has 20 million patients in its network, would plan to proceed moving those patients to a capitated model to better manage healthcare results and costs. Mr. Witty also spoke about OptumCare’s plan to regulate clinical services with its nearly 90 health plan customers. “We are rapidly transitioning our inclinations clinic-by-clinic to be able to expand our networks,” he said. “It’s one of the areas I think we feel extremely promising about for future momentum.”
- OptumCare serves 4 million patients in responsible care arrangements and 2 million are under fully capitated arrangements. “We eliminated much of the clerical weight in our physicians and advanced practitioners’ practice and let them focus on the work they love,” said Mr. Decker, adding “So this is really gaining traction among our physician workforce.”