Founded only 12 years ago, Optum now employs 10% of all American physicians. Optum is a United HealthCare company. Imagine, 90,000 doctors working for an insurance company! Who’d ever thought!
Optum contributes more than 50% of UnitedHealth’s earnings.
Since Optum’s founding in 2011, the company has acquired various healthcare technology services to build out its pharmacy benefit manager and care services offerings.
- April 2011: UnitedHealth Group announces Optum master brand, bringing together pharmacy services, data & analytics tools, and care delivery services under one roof.
- Jan. 2013: Partnering with Mayo Clinic, Optum unveils OptumLabs, a health data initiative.
- Oct. 2013: Optum, partnering with Dignity Health, launches Optum360, a revenue cycle management venture.
- Feb. 2014: Optum purchases a majority stake in Audax Health Solutions, a patient engagement[clarification needed] company. Audax is later rebranded as Rally Health.
- April 2015: Optum acquires MedExpress, an urgent care and preventative services company.
- July 2015: Catamaran, a pharmacy benefit manager, joins OptumRx.[2]
- Jan. 2017: Optum acquires Surgical Care Affiliates, an ambulatory surgery center and surgical hospital provider.[8]
- Aug. 2017: Optum announces it will acquire Advisory Board Company’s healthcare business.[2]
- Dec. 2017: Optum announces acquisition of DaVita Medical Group from DaVita Inc.[9]
- Sept. 2019: UnitedHealth Group announces acquisition of Equian, LLC for $3.2 billion.[10] A Payment Integrity Institution that has joined the Optum family.
- Jan 2021: UnitedHealth Group announces acquisition of Change Healthcare LLC, evaluated to worth $8 billion, in addition to paying off its $5 billion debt for a total of $13 billion.[11] It is said to be merged with OptumInsight.
- Aug 2021: UnitedHealth Group announces acquisition of Solutran LLC.[12]
- May 2022: Optum acquires Atrius Health, an independent physician-led healthcare organization.[13]
- June 2022: Bordeaux UK Holdings II Limited, an affiliate of Optum business acquires EMIS Health for a 49% premium on its closing share price.[14]
- July 2022: Optum acquires Caremount Medical, Inc., of southeastern New York State, Riverside Medical Care of New Jersey, and ProHealth Medical Group of Western Connecticut, three midsized physician-led independent medical groups. In its announcement to the public and patients of the acquisitions, insurance company UnitedHealth Group is not mentioned, casting the transaction as a merger of three midsize physician-led companies into a new company rather than three acquisitions by an existing much larger Fortune 500 corporation with multiple types of health-related acquisitions, as described above. [15]
- June 2023: Optum agreed to acquire Amedisys for $3.3 billion. As part of the agreement, Amedisys rejected a prior buyout offer from Option Care that it initially agreed to the previous month.[16][17]
