Optum pays $1.5 billion to acquire U.K. health care technology firm

UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Optum health-services unit has paid $1.5 billion in cash for EMIS Group PLC, a Leeds, England-based provider of health care software and IT, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports. The deal, approved June 17 according to a regulatory filing, will give Optum’s UK subsidiary more tools and services to support the United Kingdom’s national health care system. Optum UK has been doing business to support the National Health Service for nearly 20 years through its software, services and consultancy business.