United Health Care's Strategic Planning: An Analysis

“UnitedHealthcare provides network-based health care benefits for a full spectrum of customers in the health benefits market” such as students and individuals; sole proprietorships to multi-site, large national employers; promotion of health benefits to Medicare retirees and beneficiaries; and provides Medicaid and community programs (UnitedHealthcare, 2010). UnitedHealth Group 2012 revenue was $11.3 billion. The company is continuously growing through various mergers and acquisitions within the US and Europe, increasing members and revenues (Keepournhspublic, n. d.).

A strategic plan is a tool that delivers guidance in achieving a mission or goal with maximum proficiency and control for an organization. Strategic planning is used to transform and revitalize organizations. The plan helps provide an inclusive understanding of opportunities and challenges both internally and externally for the organization. The plan delivers an assessment of the strengths and limitations that are realistic within the company. A well-developed strategic plan will offer a comprehensive approach and empowerment for the stakeholders involved. It is an opportunity for learning and understanding priorities that will drive the business to succeed. Jones (2010), describes how in health care organizations, strategic plans

Shortly after that in 1995, United HealthCare attained the MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.65 billion. During 1998, the company undertook a momentous realignment of its operations into six independent, yet strategically linked businesses. Each of the companies were dedicated to meeting the health and well-being needs of a distinctive market segment. To accurately reflect the breadth and structure of this new company, the corporate organization, United HealthCare Corporation, was renamed UnitedHealth

The Better Health Association is always looking for stronger ways to connect with individuals within our community. As technology has increased, individuals spend large amounts of time online or on their cell phones. Our goal is to develop an app which will allow a Better Health patient to access any time of the day 24-7. Benefits of the app will include tips on health education, which in return will allow the patient the opportunity to take preventive steps in taking care of themselves. I will deepen the leadership and management practice in order to strengthen the organization to fulfill our goals.

Healthcare reform has created incentives to increase patient engagement to increase accountability, healthcare outcome and lower healthcare cost. In the early days of this movement, web portals were created with basic functions of requesting appointments, prescription refills, and paying medical bills (Butterfield, 2013). Today, patient portals allow users to access dictated visit reports, labs, approve access controls combined with the function of the web portals. As more health information is pushed to the portals, the users (patients and family) are more involved with healthcare decisions and more knowledgeable on available options that meet individual need.

Without strategic planning, several things can go wrong including missing out on great opportunities. Strategic planning is an organization’s outline to help achieve its purpose. Although strategic planning begins at the top of the pyramid, it is more effective when it is carry out as a whole among other in the organization. Having a good internal control system in place protects an organization from high risk, fraud, and more. Jackson Memorial Hospital has several weaknesses which are similar to its competitors and other health care organizations. For instance, Mount Sinai Medical Center one of Jackson Memorial’s competitors, encountered lack of strategic planning that led to many issues such as with readmissions, surgical complications,

Even though 45 million Americans are uninsured, the U.S. spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation, and those countries provide health care to all of their citizens. (National Coalition on Healthcare, 2005, Facts on health care costs).

The University of Michigan Health System is one of the largest health care facilities in the world. The facility is also referred to as the University of Michigan Hospital. It is one of the largest hospitals in the state of Michigan, as well as a premier academic medical center. The hospital was ranked number eleven by the U.S. News and World Report list of best hospitals, and is also ranked the number one hospital in Michigan and the metro Detroit area (Otman, 2015). The official site for the hospital (2015) states that the hospital consists of U-M hospitals, Health Centers and Clinics, U of M medical school, and its faculty group practice, clinical activities of the U of M School of Nursing. It also consists of one of the nation’s largest biomedical research communities, and the Michigan Health Corp, which is the legal entity that allows the facility to enter into partnerships, affiliations, joint ventures, and several other business activities (Regents, 2015). Michigan Health System has a vision of creating the future of health care through discovery, as well as to become the national leader in care, education, biomedical innovation, and health care reform (Regents, 2015).

As part of their Vision 2010 strategy, University Hospitals (UH) launched initiatives in five main areas including neighborhood revitalization, local and minority purchasing, multi-institutional, city, and regional partnerships, community investments, and capacity building. University Hospitals spends over 160% more on community benefits than the typical U.S. non-profit hospital. In 2014, the total budget was $266 million. Initiatives

So what is universal healthcare and how could it magically bring the U.S. to the top of the pyramid? In a nutshell, universal healthcare can be described as a health care system which provides healthcare to all citizens of a country. Healthcare is paid for by the taxation of employers and employees and coverage is considered mandatory. Almost all medical-care services are included and paid for in this way. (Silver, George A., and Sparer, Michael S.) This is different from America in the way that the U.S. expects individuals to pay for their expenses by themselves and

UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health care company, and a worldwide leader in helping people live healthier lives and taking the necessary steps in making the health system work better for everyone. The UnitedHealth group serves more than 85 million individuals worldwide with health benefits and services. In 2012, they produced revenues of $110.6 billion and were ranked number 17 in the Fortune 500. The economic and political segments would rank the highest in influencing the UnitedHealth Group.

In all of the U.S, United Healthcare is the only health carrier that has been working towards improving the effectiveness as well as quality of healthcare for people belonging to all the various nations. This organization has been trying to make the medicines more accessible to the people who need them; they have been trying to implement the services that could be used by the masses not only in terms of cheaper costs but better accessibility as well.

As a Fortune 150 company with a 45-year history in the health industry and more than eleven million members under its wings, Humana has become one of the largest health benefit company in the U.S. With its slogan, “Guidance when you need it most”, Humana has gain their success through their diverse business units, outstanding wellness program and reliable customer service. The company is basically operates through two business division: government and commercial. The government division serves everyone who is enrolled in government-sponsored program such as Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE. On the other hand, the commercial division handles employers groups and individuals under fully insured medical or specialty medical.

Kaiser is able to respond to the challenges set forth because they continue to evaluate what changes need to be made and how to make them successfully. The strategic plan allows for an overview of where the facility is currently standing. This allows for any changes that are made internally or externally to be evaluated at the time of the change instead of after the change has been made and it is too late. The strategic plan helps to have a faster response time because there is already plan in place so it is easier to see where the changes are made and how to correct them without the facility suffering.

HealthVault discovers trends and patterns in a patient’s health and inspire them to stay on track with their plans customized by doctors for