OptumCare officially purchases Reliant for $28M

Photo/Google Reliant Medical Group's offices at 370 Lunenburg St. in Fitchburg. The company is now officially part of OptumCare but will retain its name.

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By Grant Welker

Reliant Medical Group is now officially part of the international healthcare company Optum, with the $28-million deal receiving necessary state approvals in Massachusetts.

Reliant announced the completion of the deal on Monday.

Reliant Medical Group and Southboro Medical Group will both keep their names, and the company said physicians, staff and management will be unchanged as a result of the deal. Most insurance plans will still be accepted.

The deal was first reported by the Worcester Business Journal last April, with Reliant doctors approving the deal last May.

Optum is spending $28.35 million to acquire Reliant, according to a Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County filing from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Healey's office reviewed the proposed deal and gave its approval.

Reliant's board of directors had decided it could no longer remain viable as a standalone nonprofit, the company said in justifying the Optum deal to the state.

Reliant, which was founded in 1929, and Southboro Medical Group, which started in 1972, have a combined 320,000 patients. The company says it is the largest such health system in Central Massachusetts and MetroWest, with more than 500 providers and 2,600 employees at more than 25 locations.

Optum, which is based in Minnesota, is part of the publicly traded UnitedHealth Group.