Who is behind Optum and what percentage of healthcare providers in New Jersey are now working for Optum?

1. Who is behind Optum — the corporate parent and strategy

Optum is a business unit of UnitedHealth Group, created by merging UnitedHealth’s pharmacy and care-delivery operations into a single Optum brand in 2011; UnitedHealth positions Optum as its technology-enabled, diversified health services arm that delivers analytics, pharmacy services, and direct medical care ^{[6] [7] [8]}. Optum has pursued rapid vertical integration and scale through acquisitions — buying companies such as LHC Group for $5.4 billion and Change Healthcare for about $13 billion — and by folding analytics, PBM services (OptumRx) and care delivery under one roof ^{[1] [2]}.

2. How big is Optum in raw provider and employee terms

Optum publicly reports very large head counts and provider networks: corporate communications state more than 210,000 people worldwide at one point and Optum’s consumer-facing sites tout networks of “over 85,000 primary and specialty care doctors” or invitations to partner with networks of “over 60,000 physicians” in certain state materials ^{[7] [4] [5]}. The New York Times reporting cited by Optum-focused coverage also noted that UnitedHealth Group “employs or is affiliated with roughly 90,000 doctors,” a figure used to show the company’s scale in clinical employment and affiliation ^[9].

3. What Optum controls in New Jersey — clinics, acquisitions, closures

Optum expanded in New Jersey by acquiring regional groups (for example Riverside Medical Group and other practices folded into “Optum Medical Care”), and Optum’s own directories list more than a thousand clinicians and dozens of clinics in the tri-state region that includes New Jersey ^{[3] [10]}. Recent reporting in late 2025 documents Optum announcing large clinic closures and layoffs in New Jersey — dozens of offices and hundreds of staff affected — indicating a meaningful on-the-ground presence and rapid operational change in the state ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}.

4. Why a single percentage figure for New Jersey providers is not in the record

None of the supplied sources state “X% of New Jersey providers now work for Optum.” Available material instead gives absolute counts for Optum-affiliated providers or network sizes (e.g., “more than 1,400 providers” in some regional groupings, “over 85,000” physicians nationally, and state recruitment pages citing networks of “over 60,000 physicians”) ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Without a reliable denominator for all licensed New Jersey providers in the same reporting set, calculating a statewide percentage would require data not found in current reporting.

5. Competing viewpoints and the politics of scale

Supporters frame Optum’s growth as modernization and coordinated care — Optum says its acquisitions and scale enable better coordination, lower costs and more integrated services ^{[7] [3]}. Critics and some elected officials view the same consolidation as competitive concentration that can harm access, raise prices and create conflicts with UnitedHealth’s insurer business; members of Congress have opened inquiries and requested antitrust scrutiny of UnitedHealth/Optum’s ownership of physician practices ^{[15] [16]}. Both narratives are present in the sources and highlight an implicit agenda: industry materials stress operational benefits, while watchdogs stress market power and patient impacts ^{[1] [16]}.

6. What reporters and regulators are watching next

Journalists and regulators are focused on the consequences of Optum’s acquisitions — changes to scheduling, billing and access reported by patients and members of Congress conducting inquiries — and on legal and antitrust reviews tied to large deals and market conduct ^{[15] [2] [16]}. Local New Jersey coverage emphasizes immediate impacts from office closures and layoffs, while national pieces emphasize scale and the potential for conflicts across Optum and UnitedHealth’s insurance and care lines ^{[13] [14] [9]}.

Limitations and how to get the missing percentage

Available sources here do not report a single percentage of New Jersey providers employed or contracted by Optum; to produce that figure would require a contemporaneous total count of licensed New Jersey providers and a matched, verifiable Optum roster for the same date — documents not present in the supplied set (not found in current reporting). For a definitive percentage, consult New Jersey medical board registries or state workforce reports and an Optum provider roster or a state-level disclosure from Optum/UnitedHealth.