Optum/Change Healthcare Merger
16 August 22
| Boyd Stewart and Sam Eaquinto
In January 2021, Optum announced their intentions to acquire Change Healthcare. The merger remains unfinalized, however, as the US Department of Justice blocked the deal in February 2022 due to anticompetition concerns—such a merger would give UnitedHealth Group, Optum’s parent company and the nation’s largest insurer, access to rivals’ sensitive data. The legal proceeding is ongoing and scheduled to go to trial August 1, 2022. This report shares Optum and Change Healthcare customers’ reactions to the merger and their perceptions of its impact. Between March 2021 and April 2022, KLAS interviewed 48 individuals from 46 unique organizations; of these respondents, 9% are Optum customers, 56% are Change Healthcare customers, and 35% are customers of both vendors.
Being Replaced
Manager
Our organization experienced a lot of push from various departments to go toward Epic and away from...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
Availity Essentials Pro isn't part of our long-term plans because it isn't as integrated with our...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
Our company has entered a partnership with another company, so we will be moving to that company's...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Decided / Likely Choice
Physician
We are looking to stand Availity Essentials Pro up as a backup once the dust settles with our...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We did a demo with Availity, and we liked it. Their system is a strong possibility for our...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CMO
We looked at Availity. They have an excellent product. However, it is more of a standalone product....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We looked at Availity's system, but we decided that its technology and price didn't match our needs.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We were looking for a vendor that was better at communicating about instances of downtime, so we...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
Our health system wants to consolidate to just one vendor for claims. The organization is going to...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We decided to go with TriZetto Provider Solutions because their clearinghouse solution plays with...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CIO
We are considering replacing ClaimSource because we have had some issues on the front end.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
Our decision to choose ClaimSource was very close. What really set ClaimSource apart was that we had...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are switching to Epic's platform, and Experian Health's product is the claims management piece...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Physician
Our decision to go with Experian Health was largely related to patient access. Experian Health had...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are leaning toward Experian Health's offering because Experian Health has a lot of features that...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
ClaimSource has functionalities for preadmissions, revisits, check-ins, insurance eligibility,...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
The decision to go with Experian Health's system was made by our operational team. They chose it...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We decided to move to Experian Health's system because of the vendor's technology and prices. We...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Physician
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that ClaimSource would be a good connection on the...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are leaning toward Experian Health because they offer more in terms of client support with claims...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
Our organization is switching to Epic, and ClaimSource is the product that Epic is encouraging.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We chose Experian Health's system because we were already using the vendors' systems for some other...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We are moving to ClaimSource because the pricepoint is better and the platform will integrate with...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
Experian Health's system looked fine. I don't think there was anything wrong with it, but it didn't...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CIO
We are thinking of staying with ClaimSource because we haven’t had any issues with Experian Health....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We were looking around the market for claims management vendors who could do the work more quickly...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We want to move away from FinThrive because of their customer service. We have had some issues, but...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We replaced FinThrive's system due to costs.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We are leaving FinThrive's system because we are trying to reduce the number of vendors we work with....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
The big thing that made us decide to go with another vendor was that FinThrive told us they could...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CIO
We are considering moving to FinThrive because they have everything we need and have a contract...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
FinThrive didn't win our RFP because their customers service was poor. We needed a person dedicated...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We considered FinThrive because we thought they could do some things more efficiently than our...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Physician
We looked at FinThrive. FinThrive was probably a little better at the back-end stuff compared to the...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
When I looked at KLAS' site, I saw FinThrive's system. I wanted to research that system because I...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We are moving to Inovalon's system because we are having issues with our current product. We need a...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We went with Inovalon because their system integrates with and was offered by other vendors we were...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We don't really like InstaMed, but we went with them because they were cheap. Their support is...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
NextGen Healthcare is sunsetting this product, so we are being forced to find another solution.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Physician
When Olive went insolvent, Waystar picked the system up, and then Waystar essentially said the...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We flipped from Assurance Reimbursement Management to another solution during the Change Healthcare...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CMO
During the Change Healthcare incident, we had a lot of problems with posting payments. Within a...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We are looking to make a change to our patient connect program. We used Optum's systems for our...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We moved away from Change Healthcare because of the cyberattack on their clearinghouse solution.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We are replacing Change Healthcare's system because of the Change Healthcare data breach. Change...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
Before the Change Healthcare disaster, we decided that we were going to switch to another vendor's...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We were affected by the Change Healthcare ransomware attack very significantly. Nobody can work with...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Physician
We are replacing Change Healthcare after their cybersecurity incident. The confidence factor is nil....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
Change Healthcare performed well in the space, and if we had to make the choice again, I would...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We want to switch away from Assurance Reimbursement Management for a number of reasons. Change...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are looking at Change Healthcare because they are preferred by our EHR vendor.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We were looking for a vendor with a more efficient workflow than the one we were with, so we looked...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
The product is not part of our long-term plans, unfortunately. We are switching to a new EHR, so...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We switched clearinghouses because Change Healthcare went down, and we couldn’t submit anything...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We decided to move away from Optum along with other solutions that could be replaced by Epic's...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We were looking for vendors that had a vision for making long-term goals, and we considered Optum....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
Because we have had such high denial and authorization issues with Xpeditor where things are just...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We aren't happy with the customer service that we have been receiving lately from Quadax. We have...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We decided Quadax was no longer a good fit for our organization. We saw a lack of vision with...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We were looking for a new claims management and clearinghouse vendor, so we searched for some of the...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are looking at Xpeditor because the solution is not complicated to use. We like that everything...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We looked at Quadax's system, but we decided to go with another vendor's system that had better technology....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We did not look at any other vendors before deciding to go with The Craneware Group. Their system...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are moving away from The SSI Group because of inefficiencies.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
Our potential move away from The SSI Group has a lot to do with a lack of satisfaction with our...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are replacing The SSI Group due to a lack of a client relationship between the vendor and us. We...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We are leaving SSI Claims Management because our organization is moving to an EMR, and we needed...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
SSI Claims Management wasn't something that I expected us to be interested in. SSI Claims Management...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are looking at The SSI Group because they were highly rated by KLAS.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We did not like that our previous vendor would charge us every time we requested a report, so we...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CNO
We are leaving TruBridge Claims Management because our parent company is forcing us to.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
TruBridge is one of the vendors we are leaning toward because their product is user friendly. And...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are unsure whether Waystar is in our long-term plans because our organization may consolidate...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CMO
We went with Waystar because their ownership model aligned with our desires for alignment. The...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We wanted to go with whoever was going to be best in class, and for most of the areas we were...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are going with Waystar because they can drive more efficiencies than our current vendor.
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
CNO
We are moving to Waystar Claims Management because it is the solution that our new EHR primarily supports....
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We are switching to Waystar because we are doing a certain component with our EHR vendor, and that...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
I was at a NextGen Healthcare user group meeting, and Waystar was there. They said they were...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We were having to use different clearinghouses for our different needs because one of the...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We are switching all of our systems to Waystar's systems, including our clearing house, real-time...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Unknown
We have had such high denial and authorization issues within our facility. Things are just being...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We decided to move to Wastar in order to have multiple products under one entity and vendor. We came...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Director
We did not like our previous vendor’s lack of vision. And we didn't like the product's reporting...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We looked at Waystar's system. We also looked at a couple of other systems, but our choice came down...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Physician
Waystar wanted customers to move to their newer platform. We were not just going to move over to...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
COO
We considered Waystar's system, but we chose a system from another vendor who offered a better price...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Manager
We have Waystar right now, but in the future, our health system will be doing vendor consolidations,...
Login or Create an Account to see details.
Title Goes Here
Analyst/Coordinator
We looked at Waystar in our search for a new clearinghouse vendor. Waystar is huge and wasn’t a good...
Login or Create an Account to see details.