Optum closes virtual care arm

MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES — UnitedHealth Group’s Optum is closing Optum Virtual Care, its virtual health arm.

UnitedHealth reassesses virtual strategy

According to Endpoints News, the shutdown suggests that UnitedHealth is pivoting strategically as it reassesses its virtual offerings.

Optum Virtual Care employees were notified about the plan to close shop during an April 18 press conference with Op­tum Everycare CEO Jen­nifer Phalen. Some em­ploy­ees were told that their last month with the company would be in Ju­ly.

“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.”

The move raises questions about the healthcare giant’s virtual strategy as it discontinues a service that provided online urgent care visits and prescription refills.

Launched in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic that accelerated telehealth adoption, Optum Virtual Care was a major part of Optum’s push into virtual care services. 

Cyberattack at Change Healthcare

The closure comes after Optum’s subsidiary Change Healthcare, which provides revenue cycle management and other healthcare technology solutions, was disrupted by a cyberattack in February.

The incident crippled billing, payment processing, and other core operations across the industry, forcing providers to implement manual workarounds.

A survey by the American Healthcare Association found that the cyberattack has affected the cash flow at 80% of hospitals, with 60% of those hospitals reporting an impact on revenue of at least $1 million per day. 

A month after the attack, Change Healthcare announced its plans to restore the processing of a backlog of $14 billion in medical claims.

The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary said it also advanced more than $2.5 billion to affected providers at no cost through a Temporary Funding Assistance Program.