VA Awards Optum $30 Billion to Overhaul Veteran Dental Care
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has selected Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, to overhaul its dental care delivery system for veterans. The VA awarded Optum a 10-year contract with a $30 billion cap, aiming to consolidate its community dental network nationally. This move will provide veterans with access to a single, broad network of community dental providers, including both general and specialty care, using new technology from Optum Serve. The VA hopes this will lower administrative barriers and make dental care more accessible for veterans.
Approximately 26% of the nearly nine million veterans enrolled in VA healthcare are eligible for dental care. In 2022, 888,051 veterans received dental care through the VA, with over 3.5 million dental procedures delivered at community care sites. The VA negotiated the national contract with Optum to avoid managing piecemeal local or regional arrangements. Optum already serves as a mental health payment processor for providers in the VA's Community Care Network for 36 states.
Meanwhile, the VA has awarded Arlington, Virginia-based Tria Federal a four-year, $120 million task order to create an alternative payment model and manage oversight of the Veterans Health Administration's community care operations. This is part of the VA's Restructure for Impact & Sustainability Effort (RISE) initiative, announced earlier this year. Tria Federal will develop an alternative payment model and provide additional oversight, utilization management, clinical guidance, and network performance monitoring tasks.
The RISE initiative aims to eliminate silos between direct care and community care, improving the administration's ability to manage veterans' care. The VA's goal is to shift to a value-based payment model across all community care services under a single, large contract. The initiative is guided by an executive order aimed at streamlining federal agency internal processes. The VA emphasizes that RISE is not about reducing the size of the VHA or a reduction in force, but rather streamlining operations and eliminating redundancies.