MINNEAPOLIS — A UnitedHealth Group division is poised to become one of the nation’s largest operators of outpatient surgery centers with a $2.3 billion acquisition announced Monday.
It is the latest move by United, which is the nation’s largest health insurer, to provide health care directly to patients through its Optum division, which also offers health care IT and a growing business managing pharmaceutical benefits.
Optum, which like UnitedHealth is headquartered outside the Twin Cities, would acquire all outstanding common stock of Illinois-based Surgical Care Affiliates, Inc., for $57 per share, according to acquisition terms announced Monday.
In 2015, Optum became the nation’s largest provider of urgent care services by acquiring West Virginia-based MedExpress, which stock analysts cited while praising the deal Monday.
“Similar to MedExpress, we expect (Surgical Care Affiliates’) broad range of services and ability to lower cost was a strong driver in Optum’s interest — the company previously indicated that MedExpress was able to perform the vast majority of services performed in an ER while lowering the average cost from $1,500 per visit to $150,” wrote Christine Arnold, an analyst with Cowen and Company, in a note to investors.
Surgical Care Affiliates, or SCA, operates 205 facilities in 33 states including 197 ambulatory surgery centers. The facilities offer an alternative to hospital care for procedures that don’t require an overnight stay.
SCA serves about 1 million patients per year. Optum has 20,000 affiliated physicians and operates hundreds of care facilities.
“Combining SCA and OptumCare will enable us to continue the transition to high-quality, high-value ambulatory surgical care, partnering with the full range of health systems, medical groups and health plans,” said Larry Renfro, vice chairman of UnitedHealth Group and Optum chief executive, in a statement announcing the deal.
Before Monday’s announcement, Optum and SCA launched a partnership in 2016 that covered at least five markets, said Brian Tanquilut, an analyst with Jefferies.
