What share of new jersey hospitals and physician practices are employed by optum?

1. Optum is a major employer in New Jersey health care — but exact market share isn’t in these reports

Multiple articles describe Optum as “among the largest physician employers in the country” and give counts for New Jersey operations — for example, a business outlet reports “more than 360 clinics and 2,100 providers” in New Jersey ^[1]. Optum’s own New York/New Jersey career pages say Optum Medical Care and affiliated groups serve “hundreds of communities” and cite networks of clinicians (including claims of “over 1,200 physicians and advanced practice clinicians” in the region on one careers page) ^{[2] [5]}. None of the provided sources, however, compute the share of New Jersey hospitals or total physician practices that Optum employs; the exact percentage of statewide hospitals or physician practices under Optum ownership or employment is not stated in the material available (not found in current reporting).

2. Recent closures and WARN filings show scale and disruption

Late‑2025 reporting documents large WARN notices and office closures tied to Optum in New Jersey: Modern Healthcare and state WARN archives show Optum filed multiple WARN notices affecting a total of 572 workers statewide and specific Optum Medical Care WARN listings showing hundreds of positions and staggered effective dates ^{[4] [6]}. Local outlets in Asbury Park Press and NorthJersey report Optum closing dozens of clinics across Shore and northern New Jersey and laying off more than 500 employees, signaling a sizable operational footprint that affects local access to care ^{[3] [7]}.

3. Optum’s growth path explains why it occupies a large slice of outpatient care

Reporting ties Optum’s expansion in New Jersey to acquisitions such as Riverside Medical Group and broader hiring drives described on Optum career pages; these moves help explain why Optum now runs hundreds of clinics and thousands of clinicians in the state ^{[3] [2]}. Optum’s public recruiting and job listings for dozens of roles across New Jersey further demonstrate its staffing scale, though job-posting tallies (e.g., Indeed pages listing 17–24 jobs) are not a substitute for system-level market‑share data ^{[8] [9]}.

4. Two perspectives on what these numbers mean for New Jersey patients

One perspective, reflected in local reporting, emphasizes risk to patient access: closures of pediatric and behavioral health practices leave communities without local services and disrupt thousands of patients ^{[10] [11]}. A second perspective, implicit in Optum’s recruitment and corporate messaging, frames their presence as a system that provides coordinated care across many communities and brings resources, scale and integrated services ^{[2] [5]}. The sources do not adjudicate which outcome will dominate long term; they only document the scale of operations and the immediate disruption caused by the announced closures and layoffs ^{[3] [4]}.

5. What’s missing from available reporting and what to watch next

Available sources do not provide a statewide denominator — total number of New Jersey hospitals, total physician practices, or a formal market‑share calculation comparing Optum to other hospital systems — so a percentage share cannot be calculated from these materials (not found in current reporting). For a precise share, one would need statewide inventories (e.g., NJ Department of Health hospital roster and AMA or state physician practice counts) combined with audited counts of Optum‑owned/operated hospitals and employed physicians. Future reporting to watch: updates to state health department provider lists, more detailed company disclosures, or investigative pieces that cross‑reference facility ownership and employment rosters with state registries (available sources do not mention those specific follow-ups).

6. Bottom line for readers

The provided reporting consistently portrays Optum as a major employer and operator of outpatient clinics and physician groups in New Jersey — citing hundreds of clinics and over a thousand clinicians in the region and WARN filings affecting hundreds of employees — but does not quantify what share of all New Jersey hospitals or physician practices Optum controls, so any headline percentage would be unsupported by the sources at hand ^{[1] [6] [2]}.