United Healthcare
United Healthcare is a multinational medical corporation headquartered in the United States of America. Via Optum services, the company caters to the growing healthcare sector. These two systems excel in three areas: traditional, advanced enabling technology, actionable healthcare data information, and clinical care resource organization. United Healthcare has a highly adaptable and scalable business model that allows it to respond rapidly and effectively to evolving healthcare needs (United Healthcare Group, 2015).
Optum's Mission
Optum's mission is to enhance the system's organizational and clinical aspects, patient care quality, and population health management. Optum oversees the citizens it represents, ensuring that the organization's economic, physical, and emotional needs are met. Optum governs the people it serves, serving the financial, physical and mental requirements of the organization, and the population health management making it a large medical information company in the world. The United Healthcare organization has employed more than 190,000 professionals worldwide. The company serves all states in America and other 125 countries across the globe (United Healthcare Group, 2015).
Readiness in Addressing Healthcare Needs
The United Healthcare group is well prepared to the needs of the citizens in the coming decade since it leverages the primary competencies of advanced information and data, optimization of health resources through clinical insight, and current technologies (United Health Group, 2012). The company has a network of competent medical providers who engage customers and ensure they create meaningful connections. It is also ready to address to provide the best care to consumers in the next decade because the organization leads in healthcare technology. United Healthcare has larger clinical data collections that command the care providers in the organization to apply the most recent innovations in providing care to patients. United Healthcare group has access to the current pharmaceutical products and medical innovations that enable patients to get superior care (United Health Group, 2012).
Strategic Plan
Network Growth
United Healthcare continues to expand its networks and improve its health care services to satisfy the needs of the patients. The medical care standards are constantly improving, and many individuals benefit from the services provided by the United Healthcare group. Thus, the company will be able to satisfy the needs of patients in the next decade. The organization works with healthcare professionals and key partners to improve the access of consumers to healthcare. United Healthcare collaborates and cultivates productive relations with the government, employers, healthcare consumers, and healthcare professionals like physicians and nurse (United Health Group, 2012). Collaborating with these groups actively will enhance trust between them and promotes the expansion of the company’s network.
Nurse Staffing
The organization is also well-prepared in handling the challenges facing the nursing staff and ensuring the provision of quality services. Today there is a problem of nursing shortage in the country (Janiszewski Goodin, 2003). The growing aging population suffering from various chronic diseases begs for an increase in healthcare (Christensen, Doblhammer, Rau & Vaupel, 2009). For this problem to be dealt with, the organization initiated a Center for Nursing Advancement to coach, mentor and trained its nurses (United Health Group, 2012). United Healthcare is prepared to handle the challenge of the growing demand for healthcare services through the development of highly trained nurses (Harrington & Estes, 2008).The nursing advancement center offers ways in which nurses can present the demands of their profession effectively. The United Healthcare Group advancement plan is focused on enabling nurses to be innovators and leaders in their areas of specialization and new areas of healthcare delivery. The mission statement of the company spells the strategic plans as it supports the engagement and development of nurses fully with sharp business acumen and strong clinical skills.
Resource Management
It is vital for the organization to manage its resources efficiently including pharmaceutical products, information, networks, human resources, and medical innovations, to ensure its mission is achieved and continued success. Stakeholders are managed through cultivating relations and continued collaboration to ensure they support the organization’s goals. Managing secured information systems will help the organization to benefit without subjecting the record of their patients to unauthorized access.The United Health Group owns vast resources, such as general customers, the equipment used, and the employees. In managing resources, the company has trained nurses to be leaders and innovators in a strategy in service provision. The organization employs competent professionals that are trained to manage resources available in the company (United Healthcare Group, 2015). The company also has a competitive human resource department that ensures the recruited professionals have the necessary qualifications and characters making the management of employees easy and effective. The company has measures in place that ensure patients’ satisfaction is maintained and enhanced. The introduction of the Medicare ensures the delivery of proper medical services for the customers. The United Healthcare group has plans to address the needs of its customers regarding on the quality of service delivery and patient satisfaction (United Healthcare Group, 2015).
Patient Satisfaction
The United Healthcare is also focused on the satisfaction of the health care consumers. The organization has started medical plans that are cost estimator tools as well as consumer-driven in healthcare to increase transparency and enhance the access to quality and affordable care by patients.The United Healthcare Company strongly supports the initiative of making high-quality health care accessible and available to all. An innovative way of addressing the present health care cost drivers must be implemented to make this goal a reality. This will minimize the healthcare burden on the side of the employees in the medical sector, healthcare services consumer, and the federal government. The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) stated that the overall expenditure on the healthcare is estimated to increase from 11 percent of GDP to 19.6 percent of the GDP by 2021. The nature of the United Healthcare high spending does not always lead to better healthcare outcomes. Research from the World Health Organization stated that 28 nations had reduced life expectancy rates than that of the USA (United Health Group, 2015). Therefore, all the participants can recognize the value of spending on health care over the past years. The United Healthcare group recognizes that addressing this fundamental challenge successfully will create solutions and approaches encompassing fundamental principles in securing the future of the medical services.
Conclusion
It is evident that the organization is aimed at ensuring consumers access quality and affordable medical care in the present and coming decade. United Healthcare group has plans to promote patient satisfaction, nursing staff, resource management, and network growth. The plans include establishing the training center to deal with challenges facing nurse-staffing and technologies. The United Healthcare group holds the belief that the health care system in America needs a transformational change focused on providing with reduced healthcare costs, improved quality, and broader health care choice for healthcare providers. The organization emphasizes on the adoption of new technologies and approaches that will result in better health outcome by enhancing public resources utilization, delivery of health care, and connectivity. The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act enactment are affected by the United Healthcare Company. Addressing the future healthcare needs effectively, the private and public sector must collaborate across the entire healthcare industry (United Healthcare Group, 2015).
References
Christensen K., Doblhammer, G., Rau, R., & Vaupel, J. W. (2009). Ageing populations: the challenges ahead. The Lancet, 374(9696), 1196-1208.
Harrington C., & Estes, C. (2008). Health policy: crisis and reform in the US health care delivery system. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Janiszewski Goodin, H. (2003). The nursing shortage in the United States of America: an integrative review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 43(4), 335-343.
United Health Group. (2012). United Health Group Annual Report. Retrieved from http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/2012-annual-report/default.aspx
United Health Group. (2015). Facts 2015 Q2. Retrieved from Health United Group: http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/uhg/pdf/about/unh-fact-book.ashx
