United Healthcare United Health group is a diversified health and well being company founded in1977 by Richard Burke with the headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota and the company is dedicated to helping people live healthier and making their health care work better for their well being. United Healthcare is one of the major divisions of United Health group and is focused on providing health coverage and benefit services.
United Healthcare, the largest single health carrier in United States strives to improve the quality and effectiveness of healthcare for all nationals, enhance their access to medical benefits, create services that are affordable to all members and their technological services provide easy access to entire health care system. The goal of the organization is to improve the quality of the health care system.
This case study paper describes the organizations readiness in addressing the health care needs of the citizens in the next decade and their strategic plans in addressing the issues of network growth, nurse staffing, resource management and patient satisfaction. Readiness in Addressing the Health Care Needs of the Citizens in the Next Decade
In order to meet the health care needs of the citizens of the next decade, United Health care offers a wide range of programs with mission of helping people live healthier and they seek to enhance the performance of the health care system in improving the health and well being of the citizens by expanding the access to quality health care, by providing the information and guidance to make their own health choices in an affordable rates. According to United Health care’s news letter (2012), their market reforms enables guarantee quality, affordable and portable coverage to all citizens of United States.
The reforming and reengineering helps and organization to improve productivity, quality and patient satisfaction. The main priorities of the organizations targets focused in empowering patients and physicians through innovate approach to universal coverage and benefit with basis of consumer engagement and evidence based care, improving the quality of care by strengthening primary care, reducing disparities, reforming payment structures, contain the cost, modernizing the Medicare in order to improve the end of life care and chronic disease management process.
The success and failure of an organization depends on the quality of care it provides (Wyckoff, 1989). In order to improve the health of the people from rural areas, United Health care offers telemedicine technologies, mobile health clinics, easy access of the health records through electronic health recording system, well designed market incentives, improving and aligning the reimbursement approaches across payers. The diabetes prevention and control program offered by united Healthcare enables the citizens to eat healthy, stay healthy and prevent further complication by carefully managing diabetes.
By educating citizens about prevention of diseases, necessity to control diet obesity and reinforcing the need to exercise, United Health care is trying to prevent long term diseases that can occur to the citizens and low cost, easily accessible medical care will enable them to manage their diseases before progressing which helps them with quality of life and save thousands of dollars to patients and healthcare facilities.
Strategic Plan to Address the Issues Pertaining to Network Growth Strategic planning is the process whereby organizations develop a vision, mission, and specific strategies in order to achieve the goals (Goetsch &Davis, 2010). The enhanced networked system and technological advancement offered by the organization enables the citizens with cost effectiveness easy access and patient satisfaction. The enhanced card system, which was offered by United Healthcare, has a magnetic stripe on the back which provides doctors and hospitals with real time access to patients benefits eligibility information, and claim history which enabled the hospitals and medical practice to save millions of dollars.
The telehealth system enables the patient’s access to physicians and specialists when in person visits are not possible. In order to enhance the quality and safety by preventing medication error, the organizations encourage hospitals to implement electronic health record system. Even though the network system has major advantages, the issues like increase expenditure due to technology related spending, gaps in key information, inoperability among major concerns and compliance barriers arise and the organization had to modify their systems, purchase upgrades or buy entire new system in order to exchange the information in an affordable manner.
Nurse Staffing In order to equip the nursing professionals with expanded skills and expertise to match the complexity and challenges of the century, United Health group launched the center for nursing advancement in 2008, which provides career development programs to enhance patient care technical skills and leadership skills. The recognition programs like DAISY awards, clinical service awards and advancement in educational opportunities promote nurse satisfaction and thus nurses retention, Since nurse leaders have a critical role in redesigning U. S. health care system, United Health care offers opportunities for nursing advancement.
Resource Management United Health care uses their resources to enhance the quality of health care to people all over United States. Through transplant network system, United Health group is taking leadership role in applying evidence-based comparative effectiveness data to improve patient care and also to reduce the cost. In order to help rural Americans, who suffer from chronic health conditions such as diabetes, and heart disease without proper access to high quality care, the organization anchored two innovative programs with the focus of prevention and control of diabetes.
Telehealth network gives access to physicians and specialist when in person visits are unavailable. United Health care organization has health enhancing programs for retirees like prevention and wellness, disease management solutions, personal health, and advanced illness services. The organization proposes programs for medical and disability management, online enrollment, and proactive care management provides education and needs of individual persons.
Through care management provide education and needs of individual persons. Through diabetic health plan the client gets the opportunity to save thousands of dollars. Strategies to Improve Patient Satisfaction United Health care is dedicated to helping people nationwide by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health; wellness needs and sustaining relationship with care providers, surveys are conducted periodically by different agencies in order to assess the quality of care.
The values like compassion, integrity, teamwork, trust, and dedication enabled the organization to receive high satisfaction scores and the organization received many awards in providing high quality services. According to the newsletters achieve (2010) United Health care received award for improving patient safety and health. Because of the dedicated services to the health care professionals and clients, they serve more than 38 million people, a diversified fortum, 65,000 physicians, and care officials along with 5,000 hospitals all around the United States.
Conclusion United Health care is one of the leading diversified health and well being company dedicated to helping people live healthier liver and making their health care work better by providing high quality, easily accessible, cost effective care. The organization provides networking servicers in telehealth, cancer network, diabetic prevention and control alliance and believes that offering credible, understandable information empowers consumers to make informed decisions and motivates health care providers to provide high quality cost effective care.