Video series: Stakeholder-driven innovation can help create more value

Philip Kaufman:

When we think about innovation, it's starts with who we serve. It starts with the members, it starts with the employers, and it starts with the providers. The feedback that we get over and over from you and from everywhere else is that there's really two things that we have to think about. We need to be simple and we need to be affordable. Those are kind of our two driving, true north things that we're chasing after.

Philip Kaufman:

Within that dynamic, the thing that I keep coming back to, and the theme that I keep focusing on is what I'll call this 90/10 idea, this idea that within any group of 100 people, you've got fundamentally two different types of populations. You've got probably six or seven people within that group who are driving 60% or 70% of the total cost. And so, you've got a lot of the costs concentrated on these six or seven people.

Philip Kaufman:

On the flip side, you've got 60 or 70 people in that group who maybe go to the doctor once or twice a year. And so, you have these two fundamentally different populations within a group that we're trying to serve. Now, of course, one of the key things on those 60 or 70 people is, we don't want them to become those six or seven high spenders, so we have to think about that dynamic, but we also need to think about that those 60 or 70 people are spending a tremendous amount of dollars for their coverage. And are they really feeling like they're getting what they paid for?

Philip Kaufman:

So when you think about our innovation agenda, we're really going to push on this idea of, what can we do for these six or seven people? And what can we do for the 60 or 70 people in the group who maybe feel like they're not getting enough for their coverage? When United thinks about pursuing innovation, there are two primary ways. Many times we will look at the many, many millions of dollars we invest internally and thinking about what can we develop?

Philip Kaufman:

We've got a lot of great people, a lot of great talent, tremendous technology. Other times we will go out into the market and we will either acquire or partner with really interesting, innovative firms that are out there to see what can we bring new. We appreciate your support and know that we're never going to stop pushing. Thank you.

Philip Kaufman:

I don't think I need to tell any of you that virtual care has advanced five years over the last five months. And Pat is going to come on and tell you where we think it's going, why we think it's going there, and how we think it's going to benefit the consumer at the end of the day,

Pat Keran:

I want to share with you some of the progress we are making in the area of telehealth and care delivery. We are expanding the access to local and national networks for primary care, utilizing digital as a means of healthcare delivery. We are developing a new virtually focused product, including a plan design that is affordable and offers the guided care members seek for medical, behavioral, and wellness needs. A lot of this was in progress before COVID-19, which has now heightened the need to deliver these solutions quickly. Before jumping into what's next, let me give you a brief summary of what we have in place today.

Pat Keran:

Virtual urgent care, or what we call "virtual visits," is a 24/7/365-day service. We offer our members access at an affordable rate to connect with a board certified doctor from one of our three national providers: Amwell, Dr. On Demand, and Teladoc. Teladoc went live as a new national provider in September 2019 and is fully integrated into the MyUHC and the UHC app.

Pat Keran:

So there's no need to connect to the provider outside of this process. With the emergence of COVID, telehealth with local care and virtual visits have blossomed overnight as a medium to get care. In fact, we've seen a 10 times increase in telehealth visits with your local care doctor compared to 2019. We have doubled the visits through our Virtual Visits product. This medium is not going away anytime soon. In fact, 73% of members that tried a virtual visit indicate they're willing to do this again. Of those that use Virtual Visits, member satisfaction increased during COVID peak, where we're currently at a 74% satisfaction rate. We're focusing on telehealth with local care providers. Last, our behavioral health virtual program is thriving as well. There has been significant shift in the use of virtual behavioral health, doubling utilization rates from pre-COVID. We have learned quite a bit with this foundation of services, now taking it to the next level for our members.

Pat Keran:

We need to go back and look at the problem we were trying to resolve. First, providing our members with access to the care when they need it, with the right clinical guidance. Next, ensuring access to the healthcare system affordable and making access to the healthcare system simple. The result of all this is a satisfying experience for the member. So how are we doing this with our next gen. products? We are launching a new capability called "Virtual Primary Care." The premise of the program is to extend network access in the already strained healthcare system and entice members, such as those unengaged, with a way to connect with a PCP in a new way. Members will be available to select a PCP with the national provider. The PCP can be your ongoing PCP: a doctor who gets to know you and your medical history, who can treat you as you need in your health journey from acute non-emergency care to chronic care, such as hypertension, pre-diabetes, and more. You can digitally schedule visits, some even the same day, communicate with the care team, pre- and post-visit with questions, clarifications, and direction. Members can get fast guidance to access in-person care when needed, such as labs, specialists, and imaging. For this robust solution, the member only needs to pay the PCP cost share they have in place with their existing benefit design. For some, this is even $0.

Pat Keran:

Looking further ahead, there are a few exciting developments coming. Building upon the virtual primary care capability we just talked about, we are creating a new unique product and benefit plan that is a completely virtual-focused model. Knowing there is a large population of individuals coming into the workplace that is digitally-savvy, unattached to the healthcare system and cost-conscious, the premise of the product is to address this with a simple, easy-to-access, digital experience to medical care, behavioral, and wellness, a low-cost plan designed with a copay, allowing for transparency around care, one door to all non-emergency medical care through virtual primary care, where the doctor and care team guide the member through their care journey.

Pat Keran:

We are continuing to explore and plan for expansions into specialist care, such as dermatology, MSK, and more. Naturally, as we evolve virtual primary care and specialist care, we will bring in remote patient monitoring opportunities to offer a better virtual and in-person, robust model of care for our members. Virtual care is transforming access and simplicity while reducing costs and improving outcomes for our members now more than ever. I'm really excited about the work we're doing here at UHC in this space, and we will continue to innovate, lead, and evolve at an incredibly rapid pace.

Kelly Matsouka:

Employers want to offer affordable healthcare benefits to their employees. At the same time, employees desire ways to better manage growing out-of-pocket costs. To help address both needs, United Healthcare offers Care Cash to help employees pay for cost sharing when they seek care and hopefully reduce the financial impact of healthcare expenses.

Kelly Matsouka:

So what exactly is Care Cash? Care Cash is a preloaded debit card that employees can use for certain eligible healthcare expenses, which include visits to premium designated providers, virtual visits, urgent care, primary care providers, and behavioral health care providers. The Care Cash card gives employees $200 for the year for employee coverage only, or $500 for family coverage. The card is designed to help pay out-of-pocket cost sharing such as deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance for eligible healthcare expenses, and it's reloadable.

Kelly Matsouka:

How does Care Cash work? To be eligible, employees must be in a plan that offers Care Cash. To enroll in the program, employees register online. Once registered, employees receive an inactive Care Cash card in the mail along with activation instructions. Once their card is activated, employees can use it to pay for eligible healthcare expenses. After registration and card activation, employees can learn more about their Care Cash card, including finding their balance, by logging into their account on myuhc.com.

Kelly Matsouka:

So what's the goal of Care Cash? Care Cash helps to fund eligible healthcare expenses, such as premium providers, in-network primary care visits, urgent care visits, behavioral health, and virtual visits. Care Cash is available to all employees, not just those who are high utilizers of healthcare. As a result, it may help improve the overall health of employee populations, which may help reduce healthcare costs. We know consistently from our data that our members struggle with out-of-pocket costs. That financial stress may have a negative effect on their interaction with the healthcare system. We want to change that in a meaningful way and put dollars in hand to help members cover a portion of their cost sharing. There are a host of other healthcare transactions that the card may support: pharmacy, vision, dental, healthy foods. We believe there are many more opportunities to help support healthy behavior and provide additional benefits for our members and customers.