(Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH) has won Federal Trade Commission approval for its buyout of the primary and urgent care unit of DaVita Inc, a source familiar with the transaction said on Wednesday.
The deal is part of an effort by health insurers to cut costs by playing a more direct role in medical services, shifting patients to cheaper, more accessible locations for routine or non life-threatening emergency medical services.
The deal was announced in December 2017 as $4.9 billion but was reduced in December to $4.3 billion.
The source asked not to be named because the person was not authorized to speak on the record about the matter.
DaVita will be rolled into UnitedHealth's Optum unit, which has some 30,000 physicians. Denver-based DaVita operates medical groups in six states that serve 1.7 million patients through about 300 clinics.
DaVita's kidney dialysis unit is not included in the deal.