UnitedHealthcare is rolling out a new offering that aims to make it easier for employer plan members to shop for health and wellness solutions that meet their needs.
(UnitedHealthcare)
The UHC Store is embedded in the insurer’s member portal and app and is now available to 6 million people enrolled in its employer-sponsored health plans. The payer giant plans to expand to 18 million members this year.
Members who access the store are eligible for discounts of up to 15% of health and wellness programs of their choice, according to its announcement. The team initially focused on programs that fit within some of the most in-demand and high-cost areas, such as women’s health, musculoskeletal conditions and diabetes, according to Amy Jordan, vice president of consumer experience for UnitedHealthcare’s commercial business.
Jordan told Fierce Healthcare that a program like this allows employers to connect members with a robust suite of options without necessarily needing to buy into a solution across the entire workforce.
“When you’re out there competing for the best and the brightest, to enhance your own workforce, you want to be able to offer robust benefit solutions, and that can get challenging when you’re purchasing at an employee population level,” she said.
Categories available at launch include “everyday health,” which connects members with solutions around women’s health and mental health. “Family wellness,” meanwhile, includes tools and resources for family planning, caregiving, pregnancy and postpartum care.
In addition, the store includes fitness and nutrition programs that can support weigh management as well as health coordination tools complex and chronic needs like autoimmune disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal needs and musculoskeletal concerns.
While employers commonly offer solutions like these for employees, there have long been challenges around uptake and engagement for these programs. Jordan said the UHC Store is embedded “front-and-center” in the insurer’s digital experience to ensure members can easily see it.
However, as the offering evolves, she said the team is looking to make more personalized recommendations that surface available solutions that may meet their specific needs; for instance, quickly pointing a member to a physical therapy solution if they’ve been searching for those types of services elsewhere.
Jordan said the team is also looking to use claims data to make recommendations. For example, if a patient visits their doctor for back pain, the store could highlight programs for pain management that members could tap into.
She added that a tool like the UHC Store can also support employers who are feeling fatigued in vetting solutions themselves. This is a commonly cited pain point for employers, given the large volume of options already on the market as well as new and emerging competitors.
“We, with the size of our organization, have seen an opportunity to really support and partner with our employers, but also these vendors, which we, as at Optum, invest in a lot of different point solutions as well,” Jordan said, describing it as “a unique intersection of both aspects” of the company.
The UHC Store also fits within its broader approach to improve the member experience and increase access. The UHC Hub makes it easier for employers to find point solutions and plan offerings like its Surest line to ease costs.
It’s also leaning on artificial intelligence within this broader strategic goal, according to the press release. Across its parent company, UnitedHealth Group said it has more than 1,000 AI use cases in production, with an emphasis on responsible deployment of the tech.
In this arena, for example, the company has rolled out a tool called Members Like You, which tracks key demographic information about the patient to recommend services based on others on a similar care path.
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