What's Next for Optum?

Optum is recalibrating as it sheds providers, tightens its network and doubles down on AI and ASCs.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s new with Optum and SCA Health.

Scaling back to move forward

In a recent Becker’s Healthcare podcast, Optum’s CEO Krista Nelson outlined her vision for the care delivery giant following years of rapid expansion.

Optum Health, the care delivery arm of UnitedHealth Group and parent of ASC chain SCA Health, previously employed or had contractual ties with roughly 90,000 physicians. The unit spent 2025 scaling back from that expansion, trimming its affiliated provider network by nearly 20% and reducing risk-based membership by around 15% through dropped PPO contracts, market exits and abandoned risk-sharing deals where viable terms couldn’t be reached.

Read the entire article here: What's next for Optum? - Becker’s ASC

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