UnitedHealth Group’s Optum is shutting down its virtual care business, Endpoints News has learned.
Known as Optum Virtual Care, the business provides online urgent and primary care visits and prescription refills, and was a major part of Optum’s push into telehealth services in 2021, as Covid-19 accelerated the industry’s adoption of virtual services. The shutdown raises questions about how UnitedHealth is thinking about its virtual strategy.
Employees in the virtual care unit were notified about the plan to shut down the business during an April 18 conference call with Optum Everycare CEO Jennifer Phalen, according to three people with direct knowledge of the call. Some employees were told that their last date will be in July, the people said.
“We are committed to providing patients with a robust network of providers for virtual urgent, primary and specialty care options,” a spokesperson for UnitedHealth told Endpoints in a statement. “We continually review the capabilities and services we offer to meet the growing and evolving needs of our businesses and the people we serve.”
When the launch of the service was announced in April 2021, it was described as a nationwide online medical group serving UnitedHealthcare health plan members, under former Amazon executive Kristi Henderson. The idea was that patients would primarily receive care online but would be connected to in-person care at Optum’s clinics if needed, company officials said at the time. Henderson left the organization in 2023.
UnitedHealth Group has been under the microscope in recent months after Optum subsidiary Change Healthcare faced a cyberattack that caused massive disruptions to the way providers get paid. It has led to more scrutiny of Optum’s provider business, which employs or is affiliated with about 90,000 physicians.
Shelby Livingston contributed reporting.
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