After Optum Health’s lowest profit margin in a decade, UnitedHealth makes changes

Just weeks after the division of UnitedHealth Group that provides care to patients posted its lowest profit margin in a decade, the company has shuffled around several top executives.

Amar Desai is now CEO of Optum Health, according to a July LinkedIn post. Optum Health encompasses UnitedHealth’s physician practices, surgery centers, urgent care clinics, and other providers. Desai took over for Wyatt Decker, who moved into the role of chief physician overseeing “value-based care” across all of UnitedHealth.

Heather Cianfrocco also became the president of Optum, a separate LinkedIn post from last week shows. That makes her one of the most powerful people overseeing all aspects of Optum. She most recently was CEO of Optum Rx, UnitedHealth’s pharmacy benefit manager, one of the largest in the country. Patrick Conway, a former top Medicare official in the Obama administration and former head of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, is now the CEO of Optum Rx.

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