MM Curator summary
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[MM Curator Summary]: Did you know United is blitzing the hospital IT space (and hiring the former hospital employees) and bolting on rev cycle management?
Optum is hiring more than 800 employees from Waukesha, Wis.-based ProHealth Care and will begin managing the health system’s revenue cycle management, information technology, informatics, analytics and inpatient care management.
“Our work with Optum will strengthen our administrative functions as we continue our growth as a premier independent, community-based health system,” ProHealth CEO Susan Edwards said in an Oct. 4 news release.
The four-hospital system operates across southeastern Wisconsin and employs more than 4,700 individuals, along with nearly 1,000 physicians and other clinicians.
The new partnership is one of several similar deals made by Optum and health systems this year. The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary agreed to take over Owensboro (Ky.) Health’s RCM and information technology operations in January, resulting in the hiring of 575 of the health system’s employees. Also in January, Brewer, Maine-based Northern Light Health transferred 1,400 of its office-based employees to Optum. The employees included those in revenue cycle management, information systems, inpatient care management, analytics, project management and supply chain roles.
Optum has inked similar partnerships in the past with St. Louis-based SSM Health, Greenbrae, Calif.-based MarinHealth, Cooperstown, N.Y.-based Bassett Healthcare Network, Boulder (Colo.) Community Health and Walnut Creek, Calif.-based John Muir Health.