Health care consolidation aimed at changing how the business works
(WorldNews Health)

Having a heart attack is one of life’s great stressors, so it’s no surprise that nearly one in five heart attack survivors qualify for a diagnosis of a major depressive disorder, doctors say. For insurers like Minnetonka’s UnitedHealth Group, this can turn into a double-whammy of paying for a patient’s emergency heart care, only to see the person develop a much greater risk of another heart attack or dying in the future because of depression. At UnitedHealth’s OptumHealth unit, clinicians and number crunchers have examined this costly problem and devised a strategy that they say improves the mental health of heart-disease patients and results in 35 percent lower...