Pros and cons of the Optum partnership

In a matter of days, Optum signed two major deals with healthcare systems. Mike Valli, president of Optum’s Northeast region, says the organization is ready for more and this rapid succession is no coincidence.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what you will see in 2023,” Mr Valli said. Becker in an interview.

As regional president, Mr. Valli oversees 19 states. He works at Optum Insight, where its technology and service capabilities are concentrated, but he spends most of his time setting up, managing, and driving success with the organization’s largest partners.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Valli embarked on a “road show,” as he called it. He traveled to Brewer, Maine for Northern Light Health before heading to Owensboro, KY. health. At each stop, he held stakeholder meetings and announced to workers that they would no longer work for the healthcare system that had hired them. Instead, they will join Optum’s more than 220,000 employees.

At Northern Light Health, 1,400 office workers, including those in revenue cycle management, information systems, hospital management, analytics, project and supply chain management, have moved to Optum. Owensboro Health moved 575 employees as Optum took over revenue cycle management and IT operations.

“There are usually a lot of questions on the first day, ‘What does this mean to me?’” Mr. Valli said. “First, we have a great opportunity here. Second, everyone retains the same minimum base wage they received from any health care system. And so we see this as a big plus.”

After the health system and Optum announce the change, organizations spend about three months talking to affected employees, offering staff meetings, small group discussions, and working hours with Optum management.

“Usually it’s a bit of a reflex at the start, but I’m happy to report that we’ve recruited over 99 percent of people over this three-month period,” said Mr. Valli. “The day you become an Optum employee, you will get a slightly different badge, but you will go to work the same way as the day before. [in the same office]. We share all of our power with these people and they are key to making these partnerships work.”

From a health system perspective, partnerships can be lifesaving—a must. Staffing problems, rising patient numbers and shrinking margins are preventing some hospitals from staying afloat in an ever-changing marketplace. Joining forces with someone bigger can ease some of that burden.

“Many of these health care systems are looking for new relationships or wondering, ‘How do I make sure that I remain an independent health care system and continue to provide the best care I can provide?’ Wally said. “Over the past five or six years, we have complicated a lot of assets that can help activate the administrative functions of these systems. The idea behind this relationship is really how can we bring everything Optum has to offer for a supplier system to them in one respect?”

Optum can manage healthcare IT, revenue cycle, analytics, case management. It can automate processes by filling in gaps in existing administrative systems to complete tasks faster. Its size has allowed for better supplier relationships, resulting in cost savings such as $1 billion, which Northern Light expects to save over ten years, Mr. Valli said.

“Any time you log in and someone does something for someone in Vendor X, it can be – and usually is – an opportunity for us to bring it into the house and do it with the Optum capabilities we already have.” Mr Wally said. “There are big savings to be made here, and some of the vendor relationships that Optum maintains in the marketplace could get better relationships than one healthcare system due to the scale of the entire organization.”

Optum is also reaching out to healthcare systems because these partnerships prevent workers from being fired when finances get tight.

“Even if we find new homes for some of these people at Optum because we’ve managed to automate something, we can still find it, and it’s not downsizing or headcount in these on-premise systems that’s sort of the foundation, the cornerstone. the rock of that relationship,” said Mr. Valli.

Throughout the partnership, Optum maintains close contact with the healthcare system. Mr. Valli is texting with the top management of his partner systems: “We are very well connected at the hip,” he said.

Between the first discussion and the signing of the deal is usually six to eight months. After the partnership becomes official, the two organizations continue to meet regularly. They hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings for operational leaders from both Optum and the healthcare system, monthly joint work committee meetings, and monthly or quarterly meetings for leaders from both sides to discuss how the relationship is progressing and what else they can do together. .

“This is a real partnership. I think the word is overused in the healthcare industry, but it certainly is,” Mr Valli said. “We have a very aligned relationship in which we are effectively an extension of the leadership and executive team of some of these healthcare systems.”

Allowing a third party to perform some tasks allows health systems to focus on their clinical capabilities and care delivery; According to Mr. Valli, the goal is for small systems to remain independent and prosperous, regardless of the challenging environment.

Optum is looking forward to more partnerships next year, with teams staffing between three and five people a year. The organization is casting a wide net – Optum Health is already the largest employer of physicians – and this consolidation is troubling some healthcare leaders.

“We’re definitely bringing in our scale, but we’re doing it in a way that provides excellent local clinical care that I don’t think would otherwise exist,” Valli said. “From our point of view, we are very proud to allow these systems to remain independent.”

Content Source

California Press News – Latest News:
Los Angeles Local News || Bay Area Local News || California News || Lifestyle News || National news || Travel News || Health News

Related Articles

Back to top button