Optum

Optum had previously taken over the management arms of two smaller southern California groups, AppleCare Medical Group and Memorial HealthCare Independent Practice Association.

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

Optum, which includes a pharmacy-benefit manager and other businesses, is expected grow faster than UnitedHealth's bigger business, its UnitedHealthcare insurance unit.

UnitedHealth Targets Long-Term Double-Digit Earnings Growth Jon Kamp 2011

Through various structures, Optum owns a physician group in Nevada and holds stakes in others elsewhere in the country.

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

The purchase of the management arm of Monarch HealthCare, an Irvine, Calif., association that includes approximately 2,300 physicians in a range of specialties, establishes United's Optum health-services unit as a formidable presence in the region.

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

Monarch said in a statement it "has agreed to enter a strategic relationship with Optum to support our physicians in providing high-quality, cost-effective patient care in Orange County, California."

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

Typically, a company like Optum might buy non-clinical assets and sign a long-term management agreement with an independent practice association of physicians such as Monarch, according to Anthony Hunter Schiff , a health-care attorney who isn't involved in the transaction.

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

Optum Chief Executive Larry Renfro said his company "shares Monarch HealthCare's commitment to bringing patients, physicians, hospitals and health care payers closer together in the mission to increase the quality and affordability of care."

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

Its Optum health services business reported a 19% sales jump to $7 billion, helped by a mix of organic growth and contributions from acquisitions.

UnitedHealth Profit Rises 13%, Raises View Jon Kamp 2011

United has said in the past that providers acquired by Optum will not work exclusively with United's health plan, and will continue to contract with an array of insurers.

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011

Optum, a fast-growing arm of United that provides services such as pharmacy-benefit management and data services to help improve care, is separate from United's own health-insurance operation.

UnitedHealth Buys California Group of 2,300 Doctors Anna Wilde Mathews 2011