Minneapolis-based Allina Well being plans to shift 2,000 IT and income cycle staff to Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.
The nonprofit Allina, which has 12 hospitals and greater than 90 clinics, mentioned the connection with Optum would permit it to:
• Proceed advancing info programs options to enhance the affected person and supplier expertise.
• Streamline the billing expertise for sufferers and suppliers by implementing industry-leading applied sciences and processes throughout income cycle operations.
• Undertake revolutionary applied sciences at an accelerated tempo.
“Healthcare is altering quickly and the technological must help care supply are more and more advanced,” mentioned David Ingham, D.O., vp and chief info officer for Allina Well being, in a press release. “As we glance to the longer term, we have to collaborate on options that may help and speed up our care supply experience by bringing dimension and scale to innovation and know-how. This new relationship with Optum brings the most effective of each organizations to the desk in help of suppliers, sufferers and communities. We’re grateful to be retaining the information and expertise of our staff members who will nonetheless keep strongly linked to Allina Well being.”
A story within the Minneapolis Star Tribune famous that the settlement additionally is anticipated to trim bills at a well being system that in July introduced about 350 job cuts amid excessive labor prices and delayed affected person discharges.
“It is not the only real motive — it is not the rationale behind this modification — however [savings] is a component that may assist us as we work to beat fairly severe monetary challenges going through us this yr,” Ingham advised the Star Tribune. “We do not have the dimensions and scale of an Optum to ship on a few of these actually rising areas,” he added.
Optum has made comparable outsourcing offers with different well being programs. For example, in January 2023, Maine-based Northern Gentle Well being, which has 10 hospitals, outsourced income cycle administration, info programs, inpatient care administration, analytics, mission administration workplace and provide chain administration to Optum.
Northern Gentle Well being has 987 licensed beds, a single physician-led medical group, eight nursing houses with 585 long-term beds, 5 emergency transport members, 37 major care places, and greater than 12,000 individuals in Maine.
Roughly 1,400 of these Northern Gentle Well being staff turned staff of Optum starting in March 2023, changing into a part of the Optum workforce of 220,000 individuals.
