OptumCare set the goal at the beginning of 2021 to add 10,000 physicians this year, and the company is more than halfway there, Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group and Optum, said during the second-quarter earnings call.
More than 5,000 physicians and clinicians have joined the company's network, either through employment or affiliation, in the first half of the year. After acquiring a physician practice, OptumCare works with the group to provide capitation risk and create value for patients.
"We are increasingly bringing our depth and breadth in value-based care delivery to new markets that have been historically fee-for-service, and you'll see this unfolding right now and over the next year or two in markets like the Pacific Northwest and Northeast, where we've acquired and grown considerable clinical delivery assets," said Wyatt Decker, MD, CEO of OptumHealth, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. "We are now bringing expertise in markets like Texas and Southern California, that have been delivering value-based and full risk capitation care for years, and so that is really a differentiator for us."