UnitedHealth Group has named Dr. Patrick Conway CEO of its OptumRx pharmacy benefit manager effective immediately, the executive posted on LinkedIn Thursday.
Conway succeeds Heather Cianfrocco, who will serve as president of UnitedHealth’s Optum healthcare services arm, a position John Prince vacated in June.
“Pharmacy services have a major impact on people across the healthcare system, helping people access needed care and improving health outcomes, and the link between pharmacy and medical and behavioral care can be transformative,” Conway wrote on Linkedin. “I look forward to working with the team.”
UnitedHealth and Conway declined to comment.
OptumRx filled 381 million pharmacy prescriptions during the second quarter, UnitedHealth Group reported last month. Revenue rose 15% to $28.6 billion driven by an increase in customers and rising demand for specialty services. OptumRX is the third-largest PBM after CVS Health’s CVS Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts, according to a May analysis from Drug Channels Institute.
Conway most recently served as head of Optum’s care solutions arm, where he managed acute and post-acute care, in-home and virtual care, mental healthcare, and complex disease health management operations.
Prior to joining Optum in 2020, Conway worked as a consultant. He stepped down as president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina at the board of trustees’ request in 2019 following a drunk driving arrest. Conway previously served as chief medical officer and acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Barack Obama.
