From leadership moves to layoffs, here are 13 Optum moves that physician leaders should know that Becker's reported on in 2023:
Staffing and revenue
Optum added nearly 20,000 physicians in 2023 to reach nearly 90,000 employed or affiliated physicians in addition to 40,000 advanced practice clinicians.
Optum's revenues and earnings both grew by double digits in the second quarter.
Total revenues in the third quarter were $56.7 billion, up 22% year over year.
Leadership moves
Optum Health, a subsidiary of Optum, named Amar Desai, MD, CEO. He first joined Optum in 2019 as the president of HealthCare Partners, most recently serving as president and CEO of Optum Pacific West.
Optum named Heather Cianfrocco as its next president. Her responsibilities in the role include leading its pharmacy and care delivery divisions through Optum Rx and Optum Health.
Neil de Crescenzo, former CEO at Change Healthcare, departed as CEO of Optum's data and analytics arm after less than a year and has been replaced by Roger Connor, UnitedHealth Group's executive vice president of enterprise operations and services.
Partnerships
Optum Washington partnered with Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, with Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle to operate as the physician group's primary acute-care referral center.
Optum partnered with Waukesha, Wis.-based ProHealth Care, hiring more than 800 employees and signing on to manage the health system's revenue cycle management, information technology, informatics, analytics and inpatient care management.
Optum and Uber partnered to offer coverage for Uber app purchases, including rides to physician visits and healthy foods to some Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.
Layoffs and lawsuits
Covina, Calif.-based health system Emanate Health filed a lawsuit against Optum, alleging that it participated in anticompetitive practices over physician contracts.
Seven MedExpress Urgent Care clinics closed across Florida and Minnesota.
Former employees of Optum and its subsidiaries took to social media in August regarding an unknown number of layoffs they say are occurring across the company.
Morgantown, W.Va.-based MedExpress Urgent Care — a chain of urgent care clinics owned by Optum — laid off all nursing positions at nearly 150 facilities nationwide.