U.S. antitrust regulators are closely examining the UnitedHealth Group proposal for $8 billion to acquire data and healthcare company Change Healthcare, Bloomberg reports.
Department of Justice officials have asked officials from both companies for more information, and with the so-called second request, regulators will now have more time to review the proposed buyout, beyond the standard 30-day period.
The deal, if it goes through, would unite a major supplier of health-related information with one of the biggest U.S.-based health services and insurance providers. The Biden administration has announced that it will be looking more closely at corporate mergers, including those in the healthcare industry.
Hospitals and other companies make use of Change Healthcare in order to submit claims and collect payment from insurers, and the company also offers ways for assessing if the appropriate healthcare was given to people.
UnitedHealth would fold Change Healthcare into its OptumInsight business, which boasts similar services. UnitedHealth also owns the country's largest health insurer and has a burgeoning care-delivery arm encompassing over 50,000 physicians. The company reported revenues of $257 billion in 2020, Bloomberg reports.
Critics of the proposed merger include the American Hospital Association, which said in a letter that the deal could reduce competition and end up resulting in patients having to pay more, along with lower quality clinical outcomes. The hospital group said that the companies are the largest suppliers of some essential services like clearinghouses that rout claims to insurers for payment.
Optum responded to those critiques by saying the companies have "distinct and complementary capabilities," and the merger would help by simplifying the processes for administrative, clinical and payment needs.
UnitedHealth's announcement to buy Change Healthcare in early January came along with a filing stating that the acquisition would help to make financial transactions simpler in the health field and move payments in a more transparent, modern direction.
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March 29, 2021 at 09:39AM
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