PHOENIX (May 20, 2009) – As part of its ongoing commitment to the Arizona community, UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, awarded more than $1.4 million in grants to benefit the state’s health care consumers and improve the delivery of health care services throughout Arizona.  The grants, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000, have been awarded to 11 Arizona community-based organizations dedicated to improving health care services through enhanced health care technology, supporting clinical education and expanding access to preventive health initiatives.

“UnitedHealthcare is committed to investing in a healthier Arizona, so we are pleased to be able to provide grants to such outstanding community organizations across the state,” said Benton Davis, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of Arizona.  “By additionally supporting the communities we serve through this and other charitable giving, our company and its employees can help improve the health care delivery system for all Arizonans, especially underserved populations.”

The grants announced today include:

• Activate Tucson/YMCA received a $200,000 grant to promote healthful lifestyles by providing nutritional information and sponsoring Activate Tucson Business and Champion Forums (6 each year), and YMCA's Healthy Kids Day at six locations in April of each year;
• Arizona’s Children’s Association of Phoenix received a $100,000 grant to provide preventive health services through eight annual health fairs and nutrition and physical activity classes to 260 participants a year through a bilingual health literacy curriculum;
• ASU College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation received a $100,000 grant to operate a community health nursing service that will provide health services on location at pre-K through 12 schools, community colleges, worksites and community centers using a combination of resources at the sponsoring sites and the CONHI/UnitedHealthcare Wellness On Wheels (WOW) van;
• Children's Rehabilitative Services of Phoenix received a $250,000 grant that will be distributed among each of its 501(c) (3) multidisciplinary clinics to help serve disabled children throughout the state;
• Arizona Telemedicine Network/Copper Queen Community Hospital of Bisbee received a $150,000 grant to support cardiology specialty consultation via telemedicine to the rural areas of southeast Arizona;
• BASIS School, Inc. received a $50,000 grant which will be split between the BASIS Tucson school and the BASIS Scottsdale school, with each school receiving $25,000, to supplement the salaries of United HealthCare Teachers in the Life Sciences;
• Keogh Foundation of Phoenix received a $100,000 grant to support operations and expand Health-e-Kids, which helps families who cannot afford health insurance for their children;
• The Partnership for a Drug Free America of Phoenix received a $100,000 grant to expand the Healthcare Partners Program to prevent youth drug use, including the abuse/misuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs;
• SAHIE of Tucson received a $150,000 grant to help make patient health care information available to health care providers at the point of service through a secure electronic system;
• Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center of Phoenix received a $100,000 grant to support after-school programs, life skills, ESL courses, financial literacy, computer labs youth and recreation activities, arts and crafts, dance classes and music instruction/appreciation and crisis counseling;
• West Valley Child Crisis Center of Glendale received a $100,000 grant to support a new counseling program to offer therapy to children and parents who receive services at WVCCC as well as the community at large.

These grants and the programs they will support are well-aligned with UnitedHealthcare’s historic and ongoing charitable giving in Arizona and represent the second of three grant cycles.  During the first round of grants, UnitedHealthcare contributed more than $1.4 million to several local organizations, including $700,000 to Arizona State University Foundation to refurbish its mobile health care van and $200,000 to El Rio Community Health Center in Tucson to help build an interface for electronic medical records and health information exchange.  The third cycle of grants is planned for fall 2009.

UnitedHealthcare offers health benefits, including commercial and Medicare health plans, to nearly 1.3 million Arizonans and works with more than 8,200 physicians across the state.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthcare.com) provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies.  The company organizes access to quality, affordable health care services on behalf of more than 25 million individual consumers, contracting directly with approximately 590,000 physicians and care professionals and more than 4,900 hospitals to offer them broad, convenient access to services nationwide.  UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.