OptumHealth Continues Investing in Digital Health Businesses

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum is a health services business serving the broad health care marketplace, including payers, care providers, employers, governments, life sciences companies and consumers, through its OptumHealth, OptumInsight and OptumRx businesses.

OptumHealth is a diversified health and wellness business serving the physical, emotional and health-related financial needs of members. OptumHealth serves patients and care providers through its local ambulatory care services business and delivers care through a physician-led, patient-centric and data-driven organization comprised of more than 35,000 employed, managed or contracted physicians.

OptumHealth recently acquired naviHealth, a startup developing a software platform to help manage post-acute care. Founded in 2012 by former CMS Administrator Tom Scully, naviHealth developed a platform to help health plans and health systems ensure patients are receiving appropriate care after they are discharged from the hospital. naviHealth currently manages post-acute services for 4.5 million Medicare Advantage members and nine of the top 10 health systems.

naviHealth partners with health plans, hospital systems, at-risk physician groups, and other healthcare providers to manage post-acute care as part of value-based care programs. Through its proprietary technology platform, naviHealth utilizes evidence-based protocols and dedicated clinical staff to quantitatively track patient recoveries, manage hospital discharges, reduce readmissions, and support efficient clinical decision making, which taken together reduce wasteful healthcare spend.

OptumHealth has a presence in 43 states, operating ambulatory care surgical centers, primary care, and specialty care. Although OptumHealth believes it is well positioned to respond to the COVID pandemic as it plays out differently across the United States, the recent acquisitions of digital health companies help to expand its platform of products and services.

Takeaway: The recent acquisition will help OptumHealth meet the growing demand for highly personalized, value-based care coordination for patients with complex health conditions across the entire care spectrum