Dive Brief:
- Under a 10-year pact, UnitedHealth Group will take over billing services for Quest Diagnostics.
- The partnership will increase the value of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division by 20%, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- As part of the deal, Quest will become the primary vendor for certain screening tests in employer health plans offered by UnitedHealth Group.
Dive Insight:
In an attempt to improve billing efficiency and cut costs, Quest is outsourcing revenue cycle services to Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Optum currently processes approximately $50 billion in transactions each year for providers and the partnership with Quest will boost that total by around 20%.
Quest is the latest in a line of providers who are outsourcing billing and collections to a third-party, according to the Journal. The company hopes that improved efficiency will reduce the rate of claims denied by insurers and cut down on collections going unpaid by patients. Optum is also likely to digitize billing and payment functions for Quest, which still relies on paper in some areas.