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OptumHealth: Equipped with Answers that Make a Difference

UnitedHealth Group’s innovative designation programs identify quality health care delivery and provide value to consumers in many ways. We are available to our customers when they need answers to their critical health care questions and, in turn, can direct them to the physicians and facilities equipped to handle their specific medical needs.

Take for example, OptumHealth personal care consultants who support people in various ways. Through our NurseLine program, they respond to people’s health related questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week, online or by phone, on more than 1,100 health topics. Personal care consultants also provide treatment decision support for people with conditions that are often subject to inconsistent treatment practices and outcomes. With the help of OptumHealth’s technologies for analyzing data on health care options, these consultants can help patients make informed decisions. Additionally, personal care consultants answer questions about when and where to seek care, how to select quality physicians and hospitals based upon our customers’ needs and preferences, how to identify lower-cost options for care and how to adopt healthier lifestyles and behaviors for their conditions. And by highlighting those specialty facilities that have earned the highest designation from UnitedHealth Group, we believe we are helping save lives.

For example, when Shannon and Mike’s son, Tyler, was diagnosed with a rare and often fatal brain disease, the parents had a host of questions, but few good answers about where to turn for the bone marrow transplant that might save their son’s life. Upon the referral, Janet Imig, one of our personal care consultants who specialize in transplants, immediately phoned Shannon and Mike and began walking them through the various care options.

Since OptumHealth has identified and ranked the U.S. hospitals well qualified to offer various transplant surgeries, Janet was able to provide Shannon and Mike with the most up-to-date information about which facility was the best choice to help their son. Luckily for them, the nearby University of Minnesota hospital is a leader in bone marrow transplants for the disease afflicting Tyler. Had the top care center been further from home, Janet would have counseled the family to consider that facility and would have assisted them in taking advantage of OptumHealth’s travel benefits for families of transplant recipients. Every year, more than 3,500 people access OptumHealth’s transplant services.

Tyler received his transplant in early 2008 and is now well on his way to recovery, and the family has been deeply appreciative for the help that their nurse, Janet, provided them.