June 1, 2018
Dive
Brief:
- UnitedHealth
Group CEO David Wichmann told investors this week that he expects 150
million U.S. consumers to be in value-based coordinated care programs by
2025, media reported. That’s a
lofty prediction, nearly half the U.S. population. For its part, the payer
currently has 15 million, or nearly half, its members receiving care from
physicians in value-based contracts.
- Wichmann
also told the crowd at the Bernstein Research’s Annual Strategic Decisions
Conference that the payer is focused on using its care delivery arm
OptumCare to push patients who don’t need emergency care away from the ER
and toward a more appropriate setting.
- He said he
supports plans to achieve universal healthcare coverage, but stopped short
of endorsing a government-run single payer system, according to news
reports.
Dive
Insight:
Wichmann
said UnitedHealth has already reduced hospitalizations by 17% through
value-base care programs, and cut costs by as much as 8%.
More
hospitals and physician groups are transitioning to value-based care as
research continues to show the models can improve outcomes while reducing
overall cost of care. Some of that research has
been done by the insurer itself.
Currently,
about $64 billion of UnitedHealth's annual payments to providers are tied to
value-based care. The company had previously said it expects that figure to
reach $75 billion by the end of 2020.
It’s
no surprise the company is looking to further use its Optum arm, which has
been ahead of the curve in
vertical integration for years. Just in 2017, Optum announced plans to acquire
an ambulatory surgery center, Advisory Board Company’s healthcare business and
DaVita Medical Group.
Optum
was key to the firm’s rosy financial report for
the first quarter of this year. The payer reported year-over-year revenue
growth of 13.3% and said membership was up as well.
Payers
across the country are looking to cut costs by pushing patients toward more
low-acuity healthcare settings with lower overhead. Unnecessary ER visits have
been a major target, although providers and patients have pushed back on strict
policies. Anthem recently rolled back its
initiative to reject ER claims it determined were not from true medical
emergencies.
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/unitedhealth-ceo-predicts-dramatic-hike-in-value-based-program-participatio/524791/
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