Five things to know:
1. The new virtual care product, dubbed Optum Virtual Care, is now live in all 50 states, said OptumHealth CEO Wyatt Decker during UnitedHealth Group’s Q1 2021 earnings call transcript, which was transcribed by the Motley Fool.
2. With the new offering, Optum aims to integrate physical care, virtual care, home care and behavioral care.
3. Optum Virtual Care offers virtual health services but also, if necessary, can connect patients to a bricks-and-mortar facility for more complex care or identifying and triaging both physical and behavioral healthcare needs, Mr. Decker said.
4. UnitedHealth Group and Optum have stood up more than 17,000 providers during the pandemic on telehealth solutions and have seen continued growth in areas such as behavioral healthcare.
“We’re seeing continued sustainability of virtual care solutions which, as you may know, peaked during the height of the pandemic, have declined some, but are still probably 10x where they were pre-pandemic,” Mr. Decker said. “And certain conditions or behavior or – or areas like behavioral healthcare are now seeing about 50 percent utilization through virtual services. So we’re very excited about where we can take this off.”
5. Optum’s new virtual care offering comes after Amazon’s March 17 announcement that the company is expanding its virtual medical service to all 50 states and Washington, D.C., later this year.
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Enrollment stats for 3 payers’ new telehealth-first health plans: 11 numbers to know
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