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UnitedHealth flexes market and political power
  + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - UnitedHealth (UNH.N) powered on in the first quarter. Revenue grew 15% compared with the same period last year as the firm added about 2 million customers to its insurance arm. The company’s Optum division, which provides medical care among other things, expanded even faster as it keeps adding services. Health insurance is a highly concentrated business, giving UnitedHealth power over markets in which it operates. Further cuts may be a risk, but history suggests UnitedHealth will keep chugging along.
UnitedHealth 's business diversification and positioning within Medicare can take the health insurance giant a long way, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Erin Wright switched her top pick to UnitedHealth from Cigna in the health care facilities and managed care space. And within Optum's 56% share, she said earnings are evenly split between the company's health care, prescription and technology arms. She noted that UnitedHealth's earnings were closer to 90% from health insurance and 10% from Optum 10 year ago. (Medicare Advantage provides a way to get benefits from the "A" and "B" parts of Medicare.)
UnitedHealth shares are well-positioned to have a strong 2023, according to Raymond James. Analyst John Ransom upgraded shares of UnitedHealth to strong buy from outperform. UnitedHealth shares are down 7% in 2023, lagging the S & P 500's 6.8% advance. UNH YTD mountain UNH in 2023 Ransom said that many of the policy overhangs on UnitedHealth, which accounted for his previous downgrade in December, are now past the company. Raymond James sees these measures as "a win for the industry as it buffers the initial impact and buys time for behavior changes.
With the start of the second quarter, Bank of America has a new list of short-term ideas for investors seeking clarity amid ongoing market volatility. The bank expects its Medicare Advantage plans to comprise two-thirds of the company's revenue growth for this year. The bank assigned a $650 price target on UnitedHealth, suggesting the stock could gain more than 31% from Tuesday's close. The bank expects even more gains for the stock, with its 12-month price target of $115 per share implying 11% upside from Tuesday's close of $103.58. Analysts at the bank aren't as bullish on CarMax Bank of America expects CarMax shares to shed 37% to its $40 per share price target.
Pharmacy startups like Capsule and Truepill are crumbling in the fight against pharmacy giants. But in the past year, the pharmacy startups have begun to crumble. Plus, each chain has thousands of stores across the country, providing the convenience that the pharmacy startups seek to replicate with tech. The digital-pharmacy shakeoutAnalysts suggested that healthcare startups with pharmacy components, rather than pure-play pharmacy startups, are best positioned to succeed. Truepill CEO Sid Viswanathan TruepillBut the pharmacy startups that have attempted to offer additional services have largely shelved those efforts in recent months.
Proposed rules would limit online addiction treatmentIn February, the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, published much-anticipated rules meant to set the record straight on online prescribing. The rules, if implemented, generally don't allow providers to prescribe controlled medications online if they don't see the patients in person. For buprenorphine and other drugs, there's an exception that would allow for initial 30-day prescriptions for online patients. Some patients are flights away from in-person careFor some patients, especially in rural areas, in-person appointments are hard to find. Last year, Alabama passed a new law prohibiting providers from prescribing controlled drugs to patients they hadn't seen in person within the past year.
Jefferies reiterated HealthEquity as a buy on Wednesday, noting the company's favorable position in the health savings account market. Analyst Glen Santangelo placed a price target of $84 on the stock, suggesting shares stand to gain nearly 29% from Wednesday's close. HealthEquity shares gained 39% in 2022, but the stock is only up about 6% year to date. Although the stock has "seemingly fallen off investor's radar screens," Santangelo noted that the company is highly favored in the HSA market. "Most importantly, we believe that current consensus estimates underappreciate the impact of higher rates in [fiscal 2025 (calendar year 2024)].
New York CNN —CVS is buying a primary care doctor’s network, moving the pharmacy deeper into providing physician services for patients. Medicare Advantage, also known as Medicare Part C, is a type of Medicare health plan offered by a private company that contracts with Medicare. In 2018, CVS bought Aetna, making it one of the largest health insurers in the country. “In the last three years, health insurers have become increasingly interested in purchasing primary care practices and employing physicians,” Nicholson said. Additionally, private Medicare plans typically offer higher reimbursement rates from the federal government than traditional Medicare, and CVS wants to capitalize on this, he said.
Factbox: Which CVS rivals also own primary care services
  + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
Here is a list of some big companies that are also providing medical services or have announced similar deals:UnitedHealth Group IncUnitedHealth's (UNH.N) Optum Health business provides services that range from primary care to specialty care such as cardiology and oncology. UnitedHealth last year also announced a deal to buy LHC Group (LHCG.O), which provides healthcare services at home, for about $5.4 billion. Walgreens Boots AlliancePharmacy chain Walgreens (WBA.O) in 2021 took a majority stake in primary care provider VillageMD, which has nearly 400 clinics in the United States including 200 co-located with Walgreens retails stores, as of the end of 2022. VillageMD completed the acquisition of urgent care provider Summit Health in a deal valued at $9 billion. Amazon.com IncAmazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) agreed to buy primary care provider One Medical for $3.49 billion in July to expand its virtual healthcare and add brick-and-mortar doctors' offices.
CVS Health just said it wants to buy primary-care company Oak Street Health for $10.6 billion. CVS Health is finally entering the arms race among health insurers and big retailers to employ doctors. Oak Street gets most of its revenue from relationships with CVS-owned Aetna rivals Humana, Centene, and UnitedHealthcare. And though Aetna is a big Medicare Advantage player, it also has millions of members who get insurance through their employers. Mike Pykosz, Oak Street Health CEO Oak Street HealthGuertin also noted that the improved health outcomes and better experience provided in Oak Street clinics would help Aetna hold onto its Medicare Advantage patients.
UnitedHealth quarterly profit beats as medical costs stay low
  + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
Companies UnitedHealth Group Inc FollowJan 13 (Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) on Friday reported a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates, helped by lower medical costs and a boost from its Optum health services unit, which operates the company's pharmacy benefit management business. Health insurers' costs have been in flux during the pandemic, but have eased over the past year as COVID-related hospitalizations have fallen from their peak. Revenue from Optum rose 16.5% to $47.87 billion, aided by strong growth in its health service and pharmacy benefit management business. Optum includes the company's pharmacy benefit management business that helps negotiate the terms of coverage between health insurers, their clients and drug manufacturers. Reporting by Leroy Leo and Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, targets Eli Lilly and Co , Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOb.CO) and Sanofi SA (SASY.PA), which together make more than 90% of the insulin drugs sold globally. Insulin drugs are used to control blood sugar in patients with diabetes. Eli Lilly and Sanofi both previously announced that they would cap the cost of a 30-day supply of insulin at $35 for uninsured patients. California said that the companies' dominance in the market has allowed them to hike insulin prices at patients' expense, violating the state's Unfair Competition Law. Prices of top-selling insulin drugs have soared in recent years.
JPMorgan reiterates Amazon as top idea JPMorgan said the e-commerce giant is well positioned heading into the holiday season. " Morgan Stanley initiates Las Vegas Sands as overweight and names DraftKings as a top pick Morgan Stanley said in its initiation of Las Vegas Sands that it sees an attractive risk/reward. Morgan Stanley downgrades MongoDB to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of the database platform company that it's concerned about slowing growth for MongoDB. JPMorgan reiterates Charles Schwab as overweight JPMorgan said Charles Schwab is well positioned as one of the biggest "distributors of third-party mutual funds." Morgan Stanley upgrades Restaurant Brands to equal weight from underweight Morgan Stanley said it likes that the owner of brands such as Burger King appointed the former Domino's CEO as executive chairman.
UnitedHealth Boosts Earnings Forecast on Rising Revenue
  + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com   time to read: 1 min
UnitedHealth Group Inc. again raised its profit outlook for the year after posting a 12% increase in third-quarter revenue on a growing number of members in its health-insurance network. The healthcare and insurance giant on Friday said quarterly revenue came in at $80.9 billion, with growth of 11% from its UnitedHealthcare business, which served an additional 850,000 people in the third quarter compared with last year, and 17% at Optum Health, its health-service arm.
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