Optum will provide the analytics and decision support tools for some Walmart Health centers in Florida and Georgia as part of a new partnership between the retail giant and UnitedHealth Group.
The digital tools will boost Walmart Health's value-based care efforts, especially for Medicare beneficiaries. Walmart Health targeted 15 of its locations to pilot the collaboration beginning next year and aims to expand into new areas throughout its 10-year partnership with UnitedHealth Group. The partners will also launch a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan.
This partnership further expands Optum's reach into healthcare data and primary care. Optum aims to merge with Change Healthcare in a $7.8 billion transaction, which the Justice Department is scrutinizing and has not yet approved.
Optum is also growing its base of specialty and primary care physicians. Optum Care has more than 60,000 physicians in 2,000 locations nationwide and acquired Houston-based Kelsey-Seybold for around $2 billion earlier this year. Kelsey-Seybold is a multispecialty physician practice with ASCs and an ACO focused on providing evidence-based care. UnitedHealth Group also acquired KS Plan Administrators, a Kelsey-seybold affiliate, which covers around 41,000 Medicare beneficiaries.