Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affiliates, which is owned by Optum, has had an eventful start to 2022.
Six notes from the first quarter:
1. SCA operates more than 250 ASCs and surgical facilities.
2. The company employs more than 10,000 people.
3. More than 1 million patients are served annually through SCA, which boasts 8,500 physicians.
4. Last year, Optum and UnitedHealth Group's health insurance business, UnitedHealthcare, worked together with external partners to grow in commercial and government payer markets, innovate and add 500,000 patients to their value-based contracts.
Optum served 100 million patients, and 2 million of the patients were under fully accountable arrangements.
"Taken together, these efforts helped us add more than $30 billion in revenue for the year, about $10 billion above our initial outlook," said Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, during a Jan. 19 earnings call, as transcribed by The Motley Fool. "And you should expect similar growth in the year ahead."
5. Optum Insights aims to continue growing by acquiring Change Healthcare, a healthcare data and technology company.
The $13 billion acquisition could make the episode of care more seamless for patients and reduce administrative burdens for providers, as well as give payers a comprehensive view of the patient's health outcomes with the potential to reduce cost. But it could also give Optum and UnitedHealth Group an unfair advantage over competitors, the Justice Department argued in a lawsuit filed in February.
6. Optum reported revenue of $155.6 billion in 2021, according to parent company UnitedHealth Group's 2021 results released Jan. 19.