Bassett Healthcare to collaborate with healthcare company Optum on technology

By KEVIN LIMITI• Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Bassett Healthcare announced Tuesday, May 25 that they will be collaborating with Optum, a healthcare innovation company, in order to streamline health services through the use of technology, making providing care cheaper and more efficient.

About 500 Bassett employees will be given the option of transitioning to work with Optum.

Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, President and CEO of Bassett, said the move would “really improve our business practices” allowing Bassett to “focus on a patient centered environment.”

“We will capitalize on the efficiency to allow us to reinvest in our communities,” Ibrahim said, which would allow the company to make “better value and affordable care for our patients.”

This move would “allow us to remain as a community government independent health company,” Ibrahim said.

Mike Valli, executive Vice President of Optum, praised Ibrahim for partnering with the company, and said that the company would be bringing innovations and technologies to Bassett and that there would ultimately be a financial benefit to the move.

“A lot of that comes from bringing the technology on our own without having Bassett go to the market,” Valli said.

According to a press release, Optum would provide services such as “revenue cycle management, an extensive set of advanced data and analytic capabilities, and information technology (IT) to advance quality care and the patient experience.”