RETIREMENT FOR WESTMED FOUNDER SCHWARTZ

The founding president of Westmed Medical Group, Dr. Simeon A. Schwartz, has retired from the multispecialty group practice, a spokesperson for the group headquartered in Purchase said.

A hematologist and oncologist, Schwartz led the formation of what was then the Westchester Medical Group by 15 physicians in 1996. Operating on a pioneering model of community-based, one-stop outpatient medical clinics - polyclinics, as Schwartz described them - and an early adopter of electronic health records and patient information networks, the physician-owned practice has grown to include about 350 doctors and more than 1,200 employees in 13 offices in Westchester and Fairfield counties and Manhattan.

Schwartz in 2011 led the formation of Westmed Practice Partners Inc., an offshoot health care management services company that has brought Westmed Medical Group's one-stop ambulatory care model and facilities design and Westmed administrative staff to outpatient medical facilities opened by other health care providers, among them Mount Sinai Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center.

Westmed spokesperson Linda Martin said Schwartz is also retiring as CEO of Westmed Practice Partners but will remain as chairman of its board of directors. The Purchase-based business now is owned by Optum Inc., a Minnesota-based health information technology and services company with more than 150 locations worldwide and a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Schwartz, however, will continue to be employed directly by Optum in England.

Optum and UnitedHealth Group's subsidiary insurance business, UnitedHealthcare, launched a collaboration in 2012 with Westmed Medical Group in an accountable care organization, or ACO, an Affordable Care Act initiative to reduce health care costs for insurers and patients while improving the quality of patient care and rewarding physicians and other providers for cost-saving efficiency.

Schwartz works for Optum in London, Westmed's spokesperson said, and will be leading the company's initiatives for population health and new models of care in the United Kingdom. He sold his house in Scarsdale a year ago and has moved to Florida.