UnitedHealth looks beyond insurance to help fuel 4Q growth

UnitedHealth Group's Optum division, which manages prescription drug plans, runs doctor practices and analyzes health care data, generated slightly more of a profit than the company's traditional business of selling insurance.

[...] analysts who follow the company see more growth potential in Optum and its array of products focused on cutting costs and improving health care, topics more Americans are concerned with as medical costs rise faster than wages and inflation every year.

Optum services also include software that helps manage revenue and patient care, and it has started expanding into foreign markets like the United Kingdom.

UnitedHealth spent about $12 billion several years ago to bolster Optum's pharmacy benefits management business, just as demand started increasing for ways to control soaring prescription drug costs.

A health insurer employing doctors and controlling surgery centers may seem like it poses a conflict — insurers work to keep costs down, while health care providers benefit from delivering more care.