Here are 10 updates on UnitedHealth Group's Optum, the parent company of Deerfield, Ill.-based ASC chain SCA Health, in 2024.
1. In Q3, Optum reported $4.5 billion in earnings from operations in earnings from operations for the quarter, up from $2.9 billion last year.
2. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, parent company of Optum, to prevent its planned $3.3 billion acquisition of home health provider Amedisys. The lawsuit alleged that the acquisition would increase home healthcare prices in 23 states, plus Washington, D.C. Optum announced its intent to merge with Baton Rouge, La.-based Amedisys, which employs about 18,000 staff across 522 care centers in 37 states and Washington, D.C., in June 2023
3. A recent audit of Optum revealed it may have violated Mississippi law. The audit uncovered more than 75,000 instances wherein Optum-affiliated pharmacies' lowest payments for a prescription drug were higher than at unaffiliated pharmacies, including chain and independent drugstores, over the course of a year, among other findings.
4. Optum is eyeing the acquisition of Brentwood, Tenn.-based ASC operator Surgery Partners. TPG, a private equity firm, is also an interested buyer, alongside other PE firms and strategic bidders, but the deal has not been confirmed.
5. Pittsburgh-based UPMC and national urgent-care provider GoHealth Urgent Care launched a joint venture to oversee operations at certain Optum's MedExpress centers across Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.
6. Optum announced plans to close clinics in multiple states and lay off 524 employees in California. The California employees will be laid off through January 2025 at clinic and administrative office locations in Hayward, Glendora, Montbello, Covina, Pasadena, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Irvine, Beaumont, Redlands, Highland, El Segundo and Cerritos.
7. In June, Optum backed off of a plan to acquire financially troubled Steward Health Care's 1,700-physician group. Steward then entered into a definitive agreement to sell the group to Nashville, Tenn.-based Rural Healthcare Group, part of PE firm Kinderhook Industries, for $245 million.
8. Optum also announced that it is closing its telehealth business, selling its workers' compensation settlement solutions business and closing a clinic in Toledo, Ohio, laying off 129 employees in the process.
9. In May, Optum announced it would close a Change Healthcare facility in Toledo, Ohio, resulting in the termination of 129 employees located in Ohio or working remotely. The layoffs occurred in three waves from July 15 to Sept. 6.
10. In February Optum's Change Healthcare experienced the most significant cyberattack in American history, damaging financial operations for hospitals, insurers, pharmacies and medical groups nationwide.