After more than 20 years with the same doctor, Tamela Hartman suddenly finds herself back on the market for a primary care physician. But it\u2019s not by choice \u2014 Hartman is one of hundreds of patients across New Jersey affected by the abrupt closure of nearly 90 Optum Health medical offices. <\/p>\n
The move has left many scrambling to find care.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my family is struggling this much, I can only imagine how devastating this is for others who may be in even more critical situations,\u201d said Hartman. <\/p>\n
Optum Health, a subsidiary of the global health company UnitedHealth Group<\/a>, notified patients this week that it\u2019s closing select locations across New Jersey, according to emails shared with NJ Advance Media. <\/p>\n The offices not only provided primary care for adults and children, but also a wide range of specialty care. Hundreds of patients will be forced to find new specialists to help manage their conditions. <\/p>\n As of Dec. 1, Optum will no longer offer the following services in New Jersey:<\/p>\n Behavioral HealthDermatologyChiropractic EndocrinologyGastroenterologyOrthopedics PodiatryPulmonology<\/p>\n An Optum spokesperson said the decision was made following an internal review.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of our commitment to making health care more affordable, we regularly review our services, footprint and staffing levels to ensure they meet the needs of the people we serve, our business and evolving market dynamics. We will continue to provide pediatric, primary care, cardiology, rheumatology and urgent care in certain locations across New Jersey. We are providing clear information and support to our patients to ensure uninterrupted care,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t see the chart? Click here.<\/a><\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After more than 20 years with the same doctor, Tamela Hartman suddenly finds herself back on the market…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-118634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}