Company file

Who owns Optum / Refresh Mental Health?

Optum, UnitedHealth Group's care-delivery arm, owns Refresh Mental Health: 300+ outpatient mental-health, substance-use, and eating-disorder locations across 37 states.

Ownership

Kelso & Co. bought Refresh for ~$700M in December 2020; Optum acquired it about 15 months later (announced March 2022). Optum also holds a stake in Alma through Optum Ventures.

Insurer ties

Optum is the care-delivery arm of UnitedHealth Group, which also operates UnitedHealthcare, one of the largest US insurers.

Timeline

• March 2022Optum acquires Refresh Mental Health. verified source
• July 2024Therapists report pre-payment records demands, including from out-of-network providers. The APA and the American Psychiatric Association jointly wrote Optum's CEO calling the reviews unsustainable. verified source
• October 2024Therapists report Optum quietly ended supervisory billing for pre-licensed clinicians in most states. community-reported source
• May 2023Senate Finance Committee secret-shopper study: over 80% of mental-health providers listed in Medicare Advantage directories were unreachable, not accepting patients, or not in network. verified source

Items marked verified cite primary or press sources. Items marked community-reported summarize public clinician accounts and are presented as reports, with links; they are claims, and corrections are welcome through the submission form.