UnitedHealth Group Inc. is buying Change Healthcare, a health technology firm based in Nashville, in a $13 billion deal that is among the largest by the Minnetonka-based company.
UnitedHealth said Wednesday it will fold the company into Optum, its health information and technology business.
“Together we will help streamline and inform the vital clinical, administrative and payment processes on which health care providers and payers depend to serve patients,” Andrew Witty, president of UnitedHealth Group and chief executive of Optum, said in a statement.
Change’s chief executive Neil de Crescenzo will assume the chief executive role of OptumInsight, a division within Optum that provides software, data analytics and related services to health care providers.
UnitedHealth will pay $25.75 a share for Change, about a 40% premium to Change’s closing share price on Tuesday and a price that puts Change’s value at $8 billion. UnitedHealth will also assume about $5 billion of debt owned by Change.
Kristen Leigh Painter • 612-673-4767