Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) services arm, has seen a 10% increase in home health visits over the past year and cited the service as one of its high-performing lines.
Krista Nelson, CEO of Optum Health, identified a significant opportunity to expand home health services, along with other high-performing care modalities, to deepen the provider’s presence in markets during UnitedHealth’s third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
Optum has also expanded its post-acute focus through a payer partnership.
“This year, in partnership with one of our payers, we’ve expanded our ability to manage risk across a post-acute continuum,” Nelson said on the earnings call. “Think from an inpatient hospital stay all the way through SNF and home health.”
Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Optum is UnitedHealth’s services arm. Optum Health is Optum’s patient-care business, focusing on fully accountable value-based care.
In Q3 2026, Optum served over 120 million patients. Its Q3 revenue rang in at $66.9 billion, down from $69.2 billion year over year.
In the same quarter, Optum Health’s revenue totaled $22.9 billion, down 10% year over year. UnitedHealth attributed the drop to fewer value-based care patients served in markets where Optum lacked sufficient value-based care presence to sustain clinicians in its Q3 earnings report.
At the same time, UnitedHealth CEO Patrick Conway described the reason for the company’s strong Q3 performance to a continued return to value-based care principles as well as strong clinical programs and operational improvements.
Nelson described strong Q3 performance across clinical programs, including home health, and said it will be durable as the company heads into 2027.
Alongside home health, UnitedHealthcare President Robert Hunter highlighted hospice, surgery centers, D-SNPs, C-SNP and HMOs as high-performing service lines.
“We’ve seen really strong demand for these products to serve post-acute care risk comprehensively, and we’re also really pleased with the results,” Hunter said. “We’re seeing an improved access to timely care, again, improved access to home health utilization, and I think you’ll see those programs also expand inside 2027.”
UnitedHealth leadership also described elevated trends in home- and community-based services, while saying that the elevation is moderating slightly.