Care, consolidated.
By Mara Quinn | November 9, 2026
Doctors Told Patients Psychiatry and Orthopedics May Close
Patients at Crystal Run Healthcare are sounding new alarms. Physicians at the Optum-owned practice have told patients that psychiatry services and orthopedic care may be eliminated. Optum has issued no formal written notification confirming or denying either.
The warnings follow our November 6 report on doctor departures at Crystal Run, which serves patients across Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan counties in New York.
A Patient Who Has Run Out of Patience
Sophia Rodriguez, a Pine Bush resident, has watched seven doctors leave Crystal Run over the past two years. Among those departures was a primary care physician who had treated her for two decades. When she learned more departments could follow, she reached a limit.
"This is my final straw," Rodriguez told News 12.
A physician informed her that the psychiatry department would close and that orthopedic services would be eliminated. The news landed hard. Rodriguez has relied on Crystal Run for a wide range of care, and rebuilding those relationships elsewhere is not a small undertaking.
"It's not about patient care anymore," she said. "It's about the money."
A Second Patient Describes the Same Warnings
Rodriguez's experience matches what a second patient described to News 12, though that patient chose not to be named. That patient was also told by a physician that psychiatry services would end. The physician's last day at Crystal Run is in December. Staff, the patient said, instructed them to contact their insurer to find new providers. No written notification from Optum arrived.
The unnamed patient also raised concerns about pain management. Doctors in that department had already left, and efforts to transfer care to other providers proved unsuccessful.
What Optum Has Already Changed
Optum purchased Crystal Run in 2023, bringing it under UnitedHealth Group. Crystal Run operates roughly a dozen locations and employs more than 375 physicians and advanced practice clinicians across more than 50 specialties. The acquisition immediately raised questions about what a large corporate parent would mean for a regional medical practice rooted in the Hudson Valley.
One early answer came in 2024, when Optum transferred Crystal Run's lab testing operations to Quest Diagnostics. That move resulted in layoffs.
Then, in June, Optum confirmed it had entered talks with several large New York health systems about potentially selling its orthopedics, general surgery, and urology lines. The company said it hoped to reach agreements by the end of 2026. A sale of those lines would not necessarily mean closure. But patients say they are receiving no clear communication about what any sale or transition would mean for their care.
Optum Responds Without Answering the Core Questions
News 12 asked Optum directly about the possible closure of psychiatry, plans for orthopedics, and how patients would be transitioned to new providers. Optum did not answer those questions.
The company told News 12 that patients can expect familiar, personalized care. "If changes ever impact patient care or services, we communicate directly with patients," Optum said.
That statement stands in contrast to what patients described: verbal notices from departing physicians, instructions to call insurers for referrals, and no formal written communication from the company itself.
A Congressman Keeps Pushing
Rep. Pat Ryan launched a community inquiry in February 2025 into Optum-owned medical practices. More than 1,800 people responded. Ryan sent those findings to the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Trade Commission.
In a statement to News 12, Ryan accused UnitedHealth Group of putting profits ahead of patients. He renewed his call for the Patients Over Profits Act, which would break up the company.
The patient accounts coming out of Crystal Run appear to reinforce what his office heard in those 1,800 responses.
What Patients Are Left to Face
Crystal Run patients who rely on psychiatry or orthopedic care are in an uncertain position. No closure dates have been confirmed. No written guidance has arrived. Physicians are leaving. Staff direct patients toward their insurance companies rather than toward a managed transition.
Sophia Rodriguez's situation captures the problem in concrete terms. She spent two decades with one primary care physician. She has since lost seven doctors from the same practice. A physician told her verbally that two more departments could vanish. She has received no letter, no formal notice, nothing in writing from Optum.
She said what she said. This is her final straw.
