Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

DOJ Questions UnitedHealth’s Contracting Practices

The Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group, focusing on how the UnitedHealthcare insurance division influences its own Optum health-services arm, according to the Wall Street Journal. Optum’s portfolio includes physician groups and other providers, and the business line employs a total physician force of about 90,000, making it the largest physician employer in the country. The investigation is digging into how Optum’s acquisitions of physician groups impact competition, particularly in …

Optum Draws More Physicians Into Its Ranks

Once a pharmacy benefit management company, Optum has now grown under the UnitedHealth Group umbrella into a multifaceted line of business that brought in $182.8 billion in revenue in 2022. Just this year alone, Optum Health—the care-delivery arm of the enterprise—has added about 20,000 physicians to its ranks, bringing its total physician force to nearly 90,000, according to officials at an investor conference, as reported by Becker’s Hospital Review. Another 40,000 advanced practice providers are …

UnitedHealth Sees Growth After Exiting ACA Markets

UnitedHealth Group Inc. was very open in its claims that it was impossible to sustain the economics of participating in healthcare exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”)—and thus the company would stop participating. It made good on that vow, and has now reported profit growth in the second quarter and raised its projections for the year, fueled by its Optum health-services arm. The largest insurer in the U.S. UnitedHealth has almost completely …

Window Decals Can Help Tell Your Story and Sell Your Services

If permitted in your municipality, window decals can enhance the appearance of your center, make your brand visible at eye-level to pedestrians on a city street (important if your signage is near the top of your building), and educate the community as to your various services. For example, there’s an OPTUM Urgent Care location in Plano, TX in the out-lot of a high-traffic SuperTarget store that uses its window decals to market a wide array …

Optum Plans Faster Urgent Care Growth Than Expected

Wall Street analysts have predicted that Optum would add 25 to 30 urgent care centers per year through acquisition and startups, but on a recent call with analysts the company predicted it would grow at a quicker pace on its way to operating clinics in 75 markets. A key step in that strategy, as we reported, was buying MedExpress for the urgent care centers it operates in 14 states. Optum still says those locations will …

Optum Vows Continued, Dramatic Growth in Urgent Care Acquisitions

UnitedHealth’s OptumCare division already runs over 160 urgent care centers in 14 states by virtue of having bought MedExpress, but it plans to have “several multiples of that number five years from now.” That’s what Optum CEO and UnitedHealth Group vice chair Larry Renfro told a group of analysts recently, citing provider revenues as a key growth factor for the company. Already the largest payer in the U.S., UnitedHealth joins HCA Holdings and Tenet Healthcare …

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Keeps Buying Medical Properties

Optum has followed up its acquisition of urgent care provider MedExpress by buying a chunk of ProHealth Physicians, an independent physician group based in Connecticut. Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, has been on a healthcare shopping spree over the past two years. The latest deal gives Optum control over ProHealth’s administration and other backend operations. The primary-care medical group will continue to be physician-owned, however. ProHealth has stated its plans to move toward risk-based …