The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded Optum Serve a 10-year contract worth up to $30 billion to build and administer its national dental network.
The network is set to be fully in place within a year of the award and will cover general and specialty dental care, preventive services and pharmacy support, according to a Sept. 30 news release.
The VA said it negotiated the contract under its “next-generation community care contracting structure,” aimed at giving the agency more oversight of services delivered outside its facilities.
Community care, which lets veterans see non-VA providers at the department’s expense, now accounts for about 40% of all VA care.
About 26% of the nearly nine million veterans enrolled in VA healthcare are eligible for dental care. In fiscal year 2025, more than 800,000 veterans received dental care through the VA, and external providers delivered more than 3.5 million dental procedures.
