The Optum division of UnitedHealth Group is partnering with the Lifeline Hospital Group in Abu Dhabi to bring Optum’s health IT services into the Middle East.
Optum will work with Lifeline, which operates four hospitals and nine pharmacies in the Middle East, to improve billing and collections, and will absorb about 100 Lifeline employees as part of the deal, the Star Tribune reported.
Eden Prairie-based Optum is a growing $25 billion business unit focusing on technology, wellness and pharmacy benefits. Along with healthcare companies such as Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and Cleveland Clinic, just to name a few, UnitedHealth sees potential in the vibrant healthcare market in the Middle East as it looks for ways to expand revenue outside of the U.S.
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A growing expatriate population and other factors have expanded the healthcare market and its associated industries in the Middle East to $74 billion, according The Innovest Group, and it is expected to grow at 16 percent annually. Hospital bed capacity in the UAE is expected to double by 2019.
“Through this joint venture, we anticipate generating significant gains in productivity and increased collected revenue, enabling healthcare providers to better meet the growing healthcare needs of the communities we serve,” Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil Parambath, managing director for Lifeline, said in a statement.
Warren Guillett, CEO and general manager of the newly established Optum Middle East, told the Star Tribune that Optum has been researching the Middle East market since at least 2007 and would focus its efforts on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
