Steward Health Care selling physician network to Optum, awaiting approval

The financially struggling Steward Health has a proposed offer to purchase its physician network Steward Medical Group in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Texas.

According to a filing in Massachusetts, the hospital group filed notice with the state of Massachusetts Tuesday that Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, is purchasing Steward's physician network.

If the proposed sale goes through, it would mean that all doctors who are employed by Steward may soon be working for Optum, which is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

For-profit Steward Health Care of Dallas, Texas, petitioned the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission to sell its US-based network for an undisclosed amount to Collaborative Care Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare's Optum Care.

According to Steward Health's website, they employed 1,700 physicians.

21 News has contacted Optum and UnitedHealthcare Group to determine exactly what this means for Steward Health patients in the Mahoning and Shenago valleys. We are awaiting their response.

Before the sale can proceed, it must be approved by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, an independent state agency charged with monitoring healthcare spending in Massachusetts.

“This is a significant proposed change involving two large medical providers, both in Massachusetts and nationally, with important implications for the delivery and cost of health care across Massachusetts,” Health Policy Commission Director David Seltz said. “Details of the proposal will be reviewed by the HPC to examine potential impacts on health care costs, quality, access and equity. The sale cannot be completed until after the HPC’s review and any concurrent review by state or federal antitrust authorities.”

Optum was formed in 2011 as part of UnitedHealthcare Group and currently has more than 310,000 employees worldwide, according to its website. It also operates healthcare facilities in Brazil, India, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

According to Becker's Hospital Review, Optum added nearly 20,000 physicians in 2023, and Optum has approximately 90,000 employed or affiliated physicians; and another 40,000 advanced practice clinicians.

The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary is the largest employer of physicians in the US.

Steward Purchased Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Sharon regional in 2017.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement regarding Steward Health Care’s plan to sell its physician group Stewardship Health to UnitedHealth Group’s subsidiary Optum: 

“After years of gross profiteering and mismanagement, Steward’s latest plan raises more serious questions about the future of the Massachusetts health care system. My top priority is ensuring Steward’s Massachusetts hospitals remain open. But Steward executives have no credibility, and I am concerned that this sale will not benefit patients or health care workers, or guarantee the survival of these facilities. It would be a terrible mistake for Steward to be allowed to walk away while looting Massachusetts hospitals one more time," Warren said.

“Optum, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, is already the largest employer of physicians in the country – controlling over ten percent of American doctors  – which means this deal raises significant antitrust concerns in Massachusetts and nationally. The Department of Justice is already reportedly investigating UnitedHealth’s relationship with its Optum health services arm," Warren added.