Between Nov. 24 and Nov. 26, Becker’s reported on the closures of five physician practices owned by Optum or subsidiaries of Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s physician practice arm.
1. Four primary care practices in southern New Jersey are being shuttered by Optum by the end of 2025 in what has been described by one physician as an “abrupt” closure. John Hickey, MD, is one of four physicians who sold their primary care and internal medicine practice to Jersey City, N.J.-based Riverside Medical Group in 2018. Riverside then sold his practice to Optum in 2022.
Dr. Hickey, who has operated the practice for more than 40 years, decried the closure, claiming that he, his colleagues and his patients were “virtually uninformed” of the closure, which took effect Nov. 26.
2. Farmington, Conn.-based ProHealth Physicians, owned by Optum, will permanently close its primary care practice in Putnam, Conn., in December.
In a Nov. 25 letter, Putnam Medical Associates said it would permanently close Dec. 23. Two of the practice’s physicians at the practice are retiring, while the others will join ProHealth’s pediatric and family medicine practice in Vernon, Conn., according to the letter. Day Kimball Health, which operates the hospital campus where the office was located, posted a statement online saying it was disappointed with ProHealth’s “unexpected” closure.
