Amid lingering antitrust issues, Optum's $13 billion acquisition of data analytics firm Change Healthcare is facing more hurdles. Optum owns one of the biggest ASC chains in the U.S., Surgical Care Affiliates, and the company's plans to grow its data capabilities could be in jeopardy after the Justice Department sued to stop the acquisition.
The Justice Department originally considered suing to halt the acquisition last August. The acquisition is opposed by the American Hospital Association.
While Change has considered selling assets to close the deal, it hasn't proposed acceptable divestitures to alleviate antitrust issues.
Optum's revenue increased 14.1 percent, hitting $155.6 billion in 2021, and the company had an operating margin of 8.3 percent. Optum Insight's revenue backlog increased $2.2 billion to $22.4 billion last year driven by new health system partners, among other factors. OptumHealth served 100 million people last year and boosted revenue per consumer by 33 percent by transitioning cases to value-based payments.
Optum plans to bring more than 500,000 new patients into value-based arrangements this year.