To prevent the commercialization of medicine and to allow clinicians to focus solely on a patient’s best interest, corporate practice of medicine (CPOM) prohibits corporations from employing individuals who deliver care.
With that in mind, clinicians within the UnitedHealth Group enterprise are employed by a professional corporation (PC), which allow individuals who deliver care to be governed and guided by policies and procedures specifically built to support their role as a clinician.
Optum Partner Services, or OPS, is the term that represents a suite of administrative services — people team (HR), payroll, compliance and benefit — designed to support team members who are employed by an Optum PC. OPS is well-versed in CPOM and uses UnitedHealth Group systems and infrastructure to provide these services to physicians and APCs within the enterprise. It is not a legal entity and does not employ them, however.