Background
Optum is an international healthcare services provider focused on creating and using actionable insights to help make health and care systems work better for everyone.
Optum offer diverse service propositions including: healthcare delivery and healthcare operations, population health optimisation,data and analytics, primary care IT and communication services, financial management and accounting, organisation development/leadership development, transformation and service redesign, community and patient engagement, pharmacy care services, and policy, research and evidence-based medicine protocol development.
Optum serves NHS organisations, employers, government agencies, health plans, life science companies, care providers and individuals and families.
The Need
For several years, Optum has focused on developing and delivering new and innovative technology products and services tailored for NHS organisations including NHS Trusts, NHS ICBs, Primary Care Networks and Federations, General Practices, Pharmacies, and UK Central Government healthcare organisations. However, they sometimes had challenges in mobilising the required internal technical capabilities to deliver new technology products and services.
Optum approached 6B for a strategic technical collaboration, with the aim to augment Optum’s internal technology capabilities and develop new technology solutions catering to the UK healthcare sector.
The initial objective focused on optimising demand management and patient care delivery within primary care settings. Optum aimed to develop services capable of capturing demand data, facilitating analysis, and optimising primary care services, with a focus and commitment to enhancing patient outcomes through improving access to general practice and enabling better continuity of care. The services needed to be developed using modern technologies with best in class security and compliance inline with NHS regulations, including NHS DTAC and DCB standards.
A key consideration in Optum’s objective was ensuring interoperability with primary care clinical systems, particularly EMIS and SystmOne. This interoperability was both crucial for delivering a seamless experience to healthcare providers and for enabling access to comprehensive patient and practice data in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare delivery.
The Solution
The collaboration between Optum and 6B focused on enhancing technological capabilities to meet the demands of the UK healthcare sector.
Initially, 6B completed a discovery phase, to meet with users, and to analyse Optum’s existing services and design assets. The aim in this initial phase was to understand user needs, as well as the ‘as is’ functionality of the existing services, and the desired technical and visual direction for the new services.
Following discovery 6B moved into the development phase, working closely with the Optum architecture, technical, and design teams to develop services inline with the outputs from discovery.
Integration with primary clinical systems such as EMIS and SystmOne via IM1 was crucial for interoperability of the services. The services were designed to authenticate users, capture practice data, search for patients, and manage and analyse operations seamlessly.
Robust search functionality was developed to enable healthcare users to find patients efficiently. Screens were developed to display comprehensive information including demographics, reminders, appointments, and segmentation data. Appointment management functionalities such as booking, cancelling, and managing appointments were seamlessly integrated into the services. An audit trail was implemented to track user actions for accountability and compliance purposes. Settings configurations were developed to allow users to customise aspects of the services, such as data file paths and data refresh frequencies. And, importantly, EMIS and SystmOne IM1 integrations were developed to facilitate interoperability and easy navigation.
The Impact
The collaboration delivered a robust, modern technical foundation designed to support the evolving needs of general practice and the wider UK healthcare system. By combining deep healthcare domain expertise with scalable cloud-based architecture and a secure IM1 integration, the services demonstrate how technology can enable more efficient demand management and improved access to care. The developed products showcase a strong approach to interoperability with primary care systems and alignment with NHS standards, helping to set a benchmark for future digital health solutions.
Overall, the programme reinforced Optum’s commitment to innovation in primary care and highlighted the value of strategic technical partnerships in driving meaningful healthcare transformation.
Working with 6B was a truly collaborative experience. Their ability to integrate seamlessly with our teams and deliver secure, scalable solutions helped us achieve our vision for modernising primary care services.
– Brad Perrow, Sr Product Manager, Optum