OptumHealth (Subsidiary of United Healthcare) Takes Over Memorial IPA in California-Subsidiary Watch

This was one that I somehow missed and perhaps due to the reference made in the article below, it was a “quiet” takeover.  Many of the MDs I know and have consulted with are members here.  As you can read the statement below it says business as usual, well at least for now.  In other subsidiary news last week the company now has a patent on their algorithms for patient health surveys.  quality Metric was another acquisition of United last year. 

Also late late year we had this acquisition with PPC Worldwide which relates to behavioral health providers. 

Also in February of 2010 the company invested in a biometric monitoring company with a focus on employer insurance contracts so be ready when possibly through your company provided insurance you get word that devices and possible discounts may become available to connect and send your heart rate and more.  All the insurers want your data to perform risk assessments on what you are going to cost them. 

Here’s a bit more about incentives with devices and the algorithms they can run with data collected.  They are all into data, data and more data and hopefully we can get some better privacy laws in place. 

Model for Healthcare Reform is Non Existent – Wellness Incentives Move Cost to Sick Employees With “Scoring” Algorithmic Formulas

Healthcare is becoming a big clutch of algorithms from the management side with wellness to the processing of claims everywhere you look.  OptumHealth also has a bank with over a billion on deposit. 

UnitedHealth Group Owns a Bank With Deposits Surpassing a Billion – OptumHealth Bank FDIC Insured

“OptumHealth offers three types of HSAs, as well as tax-advantaged health care savings and spending accounts, debit-card services, benefits administration services, and payment products. About three-quarters of the bank’s 1.6 million accounts are employer-generated, while the other quarter are individual accounts.”

There’s also the Chinese investment the company bought early in 2010.

UnitedHealth subsidiary (Ingenix Subsidiary I3) Acquires ChinaGate – Working to Sell Chinese Products Globally

There were still a few former Pacificare employees here in southern California which is somewhat being phased into United since their purchase of the managed care group a while back and perhaps this is maybe why the Memorial buy was kept quiet as they laid off 180 employees a couple weeks ago.  BD 

For instance, OptumHealth, a UnitedHealth subsidiary, has quietly taken control of Memorial Healthcare IPA , a Los Angeles company that manages more than 400 doctors, according to a document filed with the California Secretary of State's office. OptumHealth declined to discuss details of the deal. A Memorial Healthcare executive, Patty Page LaPenn, said in a statement that relationships with patients and other businesses "will continue as usual."