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UnitedHealth said Optum’s home health visits increased 10% over the past year, and Optum Health CEO Krista Nelson described home health as one of the business’s high-performing care lines. The company also pointed to a payer partnership covering risk across hospital, skilled nursing and home health care, while Optum Health revenue fell 10% year over year in Q3 2026.
Optum’s home health visits increased 10% over the past year, UnitedHealth Group said during its third-quarter earnings call, identifying home health as one of the care business’s high-performing service lines. Optum Health CEO Krista Nelson also pointed to opportunities to expand home health and other care services, as the company develops post-acute care arrangements with a payer partner.
Nelson said Optum Health sees room to expand home health and other care modalities to deepen its presence in markets. She described strong performance across clinical programs, including home health, and said the company expects that performance to be durable as it heads into 2027. The reported 10% increase is a company-reported change over the past year; the earnings-call account did not provide a visit count or a more detailed breakdown.
Nelson also described an expanded partnership with one of Optum’s payers to manage risk across a post-acute continuum. She said the arrangement spans care beginning with an inpatient hospital stay and continuing through a skilled nursing facility, or SNF, and home health. The report did not name the payer or specify how many patients or markets the partnership covers.
UnitedHealthcare President Robert Hunter cited hospice, surgery centers, dual-eligible and chronic-condition special needs plans, and HMOs among other strong-performing service lines. He said the company had seen demand for products intended to manage post-acute care risk and described improved access to timely care and home health use. UnitedHealth also said trends in home- and community-based services remained elevated, though they were moderating slightly.
Home Care Fits Post-Acute Strategy
The reported increase puts home health within UnitedHealth’s broader post-acute strategy, which aims to manage care across settings after a hospital stay. A pathway linking hospital, skilled nursing and home-based care may give a health services company a role in coordinating a patient’s transition between providers. Nelson’s comments indicate that Optum views home health as an area for potential growth, while Hunter’s remarks connect the service to demand for broader post-acute coverage.
The figures also show why the visit increase should be read alongside the company’s wider results. Optum reported Q3 revenue of $66.9 billion, down from $69.2 billion a year earlier. Optum Health revenue was $22.9 billion, a 10% year-over-year decline. UnitedHealth attributed the Optum Health decline to serving fewer value-based care patients in markets where the company lacked enough value-based care presence to sustain clinicians. A higher home health visit figure does not, by itself, establish that the service offset those revenue pressures or improved profitability.
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Optum’s Q3 Results and Care Model
Optum is UnitedHealth Group’s services arm, and Optum Health is its patient-care business, with a focus on fully accountable value-based care. The company served more than 120 million patients in Q3 2026, according to the earnings-call report. UnitedHealth CEO Patrick Conway linked the company’s strong quarterly performance to a continued return to value-based care principles, clinical programs and operational improvements.
The results present a mixed picture: executives pointed to strong performance in clinical programs and increased home health visits, while Optum Health revenue declined year over year. UnitedHealth’s explanation for that revenue drop focused on the number of value-based care patients in markets where Optum did not have enough presence to support its clinician base. That company explanation describes the reported decline; it does not establish that home health visits caused or resolved it.
“This year, in partnership with one of our payers, we’ve expanded our ability to manage risk across a post-acute continuum. Think from an inpatient hospital stay all the way through SNF and home health.”
— Krista Nelson, CEO of Optum Health
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Visit Growth Leaves Key Details Open
The company’s reported 10% increase does not include a disclosed visit total, the exact measurement dates, or a breakdown by market, patient type or care setting. The source account also does not provide a comparison of visit growth with costs, margins, patient outcomes or readmission rates, so the figure alone cannot show the financial or clinical effect of the increase.
Details of the payer partnership remain limited: UnitedHealth did not identify the partner, say how many patients are covered, or disclose the arrangement’s financial terms. It is also unclear how much of the reported visit growth came from the partnership, and whether the company’s plans to expand home health will depend on particular markets or staffing capacity.
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Expansion Plans Point to 2027
Nelson said Optum expects strong clinical-program performance to be durable into 2027, while Hunter said the company expects some post-acute programs to expand during that year. UnitedHealth has not provided specific expansion targets for home health, including new markets, additional visits or investment amounts.
Further earnings updates may clarify whether home health growth continues and how it relates to Optum Health’s revenue and value-based care patient base. More information about the payer partnership, including its scale and results, would also help show how the company’s cross-setting post-acute approach is operating.
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Key Questions
How much did Optum home health visits increase?
UnitedHealth reported a 10% increase over the past year. The earnings-call account did not give the total number of visits or a detailed breakdown.
What did UnitedHealth say about expanding home health?
Optum Health CEO Krista Nelson said the company sees an opportunity to expand home health and other high-performing care services. UnitedHealthcare President Robert Hunter said related programs could expand in 2027, but no specific targets were announced.
What does the payer partnership cover?
Nelson said the partnership lets Optum manage risk across a post-acute continuum, from an inpatient hospital stay through skilled nursing and home health. UnitedHealth did not name the payer or provide the partnership’s size or financial terms.
Did Optum Health revenue also increase?
No. Optum Health reported Q3 2026 revenue of $22.9 billion, down 10% year over year. UnitedHealth attributed the decline to fewer value-based care patients in markets where Optum lacked enough presence to sustain clinicians.
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