Becker's ASC Review

29 TRANSACTIONS Optum's 90,000 physicians: What consolidation could mean for medicine By Patsy Newitt U nitedHealth Group, parent company of Optum, now employs, contracts or aligns with roughly 90,000 physicians in the country, according to a Dec. 14 report from Medscape. e group added 20,000 physicians in 2023 and inked three major physician group acquisitions. e group's rapid growth is "raising antitrust and noncompete concerns as more payers and private equity firms pursue medical practice acquisitions," according to the report. Physician consolidation and mergers have become increasingly common as reimbursements decline and costs soar. Payers like UnitedHealthcare are one of the many new forces in the battle to employ physicians as they look to value-based care. Payer-led consolidation hasn't been widely studied, Yashaswini Singh, PhD, healthcare economist and assistant professor of health services, policy and practice at Providence, R.I.-based Brown University, told Medscape. She predicts it could improve care coordination and outcomes. e increase in consolidation could also raise antitrust concerns, according to the report. e Biden administration has doubled down on healthcare antitrust enforcement. And in October, a Justice Department antitrust division leader said payers should expect close scrutiny of any acquisitions moving forward. Dr. Singh told Medscape that Optum's acquisitions could bypass antitrust statutes because most prospective mergers and acquisitions are reviewed only if they exceed a specific monetary value. Additionally, when physicians are hired instead of acquired, they are not subject to antitrust laws. But Optum has faced antitrust suits in smaller markets. Emanate Health filed a suit against Optum in November, alleging the company steered patients away from physicians who le Optum to join the Covina, Calif.-based health system. Many leaders are worried about how this increasing consolidation will affect patient care. "Companies such as Optum are rapidly taking over with the guise that they can provide better care," Ramy Elias, MD, medical director for the Center for Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine at Cerritos (Calif.) Surgery Center, told Becker's. "e only path to success is for physicians to band together and stand up to the insurance companies. e divide-and-conquer model has worked well for insurance companies, and we must put an end to this. We need to realize that we are not in competition with our colleagues and we are much stronger together." n Baptist Health, Compass Surgical Partners to launch ASC network By Claire Wallace J acksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health has partnered with ASC management organization Compass Surgical Partners to launch a network of ASCs that will be branded as Horizon Surgery Center. The first ASC is located on the Baptist Medical Center Beaches campus in Jacksonville and is set to open in early 2024, according to a Jan. 4 press release. The partners have plans to open multiple facilities in Northeast Florida, both through the renovation of existing Baptist sites and the acquisition of new ASCs. Horizon Surgery Center's first location will offer orthopedics, neurosurgery, plastic and general surgery. n Image Credit: Facts.net

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