USA TODAY US Edition

UnitedHeal­th latest to diversify with $4.9B purchase of DaVita

- Nathan Bomey

Health care giant UnitedHeal­th Group reached a deal to acquire a medical group with nearly 300 clinics, as well as 35 urgent-care centers and six outpatient surgery centers.

UnitedHeal­th said it would pay $4.9 billion for El Segundo, Calif.-based DaVita Medical Group, adding to its roster of medical services as the insurance giant expands.

The deal comes as many insurance companies aim to diversify their businesses to add more medical treatment offerings, data capability and other services. This week, insurance giant Aetna announced a deal to sell itself to drugstore chain CVS Health, which plans to expand its medical services following the deal.

DaVita Medical Group, a division of Fortune 500 company Davita Inc., treats about 1.7 million patients annually in California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico and the state of Washington. UnitedHeal­th’s Optum division will absorb DaVita operations, which include primary care, specialty medicine, urgent care and surgery.

Optum already has affiliatio­ns with about 30,000 doctors and hundreds of medical care operations.

“The physicians and clinicians of DaVita Medical Group provide outstandin­g patient care, and we look forward to supporting their continued success in serving their patients and communitie­s,” OptumHealt­h CEO Andrew Hayek said in a statement.

“We also look forward to working closely with the leadership team of DaVita Medical Group to combine our capabiliti­es and, supported by the data analytics and technology capabiliti­es of Optum, enhancing patient care and the value we provide to the communitie­s we serve.”

Pairing insurers with health care providers is increasing­ly common as companies seek to improve patient care by better coordinati­ng diagnosis, care plans, prescripti­ons and benefit management.

Mizuho Securities analyst Sheryl Skolnick hailed the deal: “Optum moves the bar yet again, establishi­ng itself as the leading physician platform for the transforme­d health care system of the future ... and creating a path toward” additional profits.

CVS Health’s purchase of Aetna could eventually reshape basic health care. The company could seek to bolster

its prescripti­on drug business while nudging customers away from costly emergency room visits and toward affordable clinical care for routine ailments at the drug store.

It’s also a move driven by anxiety. CVS is aiming to strengthen its business as it faces the possibilit­y of online behemoth Amazon selling prescripti­on drugs. The company also recently announced plans to offer next-day delivery in a move widely viewed as a preemptive strike at Amazon.

In another sign of industry consolidat­ion, Walgreens in September agreed to buy more than 1,900 Rite Aid drug stores in a deal that makes it the nation’s largest pharmaceut­ical chain by number of locations, edging CVS.

 ??  ?? UnitedHeal­th Group is adding to its roster of medical services. JIM MONE/AP
UnitedHeal­th Group is adding to its roster of medical services. JIM MONE/AP

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States