An Evaluation and Strategic Approach

An Evaluation and Strategic Approach UnitedHealth came into existence in 1977 as a parent company for a healthcare-based company known as Charter Med. It had its headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where UnitedHealth’s base of operations is today. Throughout the years, UnitedHealth has acquired several companies and expanded its scope of services beyond healthcare. Consequently, UnitedHealth now deals with both healthcare management and insurance services. Today, it stands as one of the most profitable companies in the United States, with $17.285 billion in net income in 2021. With a revenue of $285.273 billion in 2021, UnitedHealth is the eighth-largest firm worldwide when measured by income (UHG, 2021). It has a presence in all 50 states in the US. With such a massive presence in the healthcare and insurance market, UnitedHealth’s ability to identify and adapt to the future needs of patients and their families is critical. The company will likely overcome such hurdles if it develops a strategic plan in addition to pursuing a Balanced Scorecard to implement it. UnitedHealth’s Readiness to Meet Emerging Healthcare Needs The United States will likely experience a shortage of 200,000 to 450,000 registered nurses by 2025. To address this problem, UnitedHealth Group will invest $100 million in mitigating this crisis by sponsoring people pursuing or advancing their medical careers. It will implement this program over ten years, focusing on diversity. Specifically, 5,000 of the 10,000 students it will fund will come from underrepresented groups (Adams, 2022). A recent study by Deloitte also revealed that healthcare spending in the US would reach $11.8 trillion by 2040 if the status quo in this sector continued unabated. In 2019, the expenditure on this item was $3.8 trillion, nearly 18% of the country’s GDP (Gebreyes, 2021). UnitedHealth Group is taking steps toward averting this crisis. Specifically, it is leaning toward Telehealth to reduce costs while meeting the needs of patients. This Telehealth approach will concentrate on behavioral health treatment.
The Group also released a report showing that 66% of all Emergency Department (ED) visits are avoidable and that preventing them would help save $32 billion in healthcare costs (UHG, 2019). UnitedHealth believes that prevention is possible through low-cost primary health settings. Consequently, UnitedHealth adopted a new policy in March 2017 where it can down-code a code for emergency services or reject it altogether. Plan to Address Various Issues The first step in the strategic plan for network growth, nurse staffing, resource management, and patient satisfaction is to conduct a SWOT analysis for each of the four parameters. For example, UnitedHealth Group has 1.1 million physicians working for it across the 50 states in the US (UHC, 2022). The Group can use this internal strength to encourage network growth, such as peer-to-peer collaboration and exchange of information through new technology for practitioners within the organization. The second phase in the strategy prioritizes objectives in all four areas. For instance, resources in healthcare comprise personnel, money, facilities, information, equipment, pharmaceuticals, and fixed assets (Ransom, 2017). The management at UnitedHealth has to determine which one of these resources is significantly deficient within the organization. Optimizing expenditure on the acquisition and maintenance of resources would help the company stay afloat, become efficient, and meet the needs of its patients. The third stage is the development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will drive the implementation and evaluation of the strategic plan. These indicators will help UnitedHealth to measure its success or failure in achieving the objectives laid out for optimization in each of the four parameters. A good example is surveys to measure patient satisfaction. UnitedHealth can use them to develop various indexes, including patient experience, patient engagement, and dignity scores (BHI, 2018). The fourth step is execution, while the final one is the revision and then requisite adjustments. Potential Issues Arising from the Organizational Culture at UnitedHealth cases against UnitedHealth Group reveal a disturbing organizational culture within the company that would undermine the strategic plan to address issues at the firm. For instance, a jury found UnitedHealth guilty of underpaying physicians in Nevada (Ritter, 2021). It also found that the Group had acted maliciously, fraudulently, and oppressively towards the physicians. Since people are a critical part of resource management, contemptuously treating them would mean high staff turnover, increased burnout, and reduced productivity. Network growth is also challenging when some physicians feel frustrated spending time suing the company instead of engaging with other professionals in the healthcare industry....