From its Optum arm adding nearly 20,000 physicians in 2023 to outlining its 2024 revenue expectations, here are 12 updates on UnitedHealth Group that Becker's has reported since Nov. 27:
1. Mike Tuffin, senior vice president of external affairs at UnitedHealth Group, will be AHIP's next CEO.
2. UnitedHealth Group is selling a 164,931-square-foot office building near its Minnetonka, Minn., headquarters.
3. Groups advocating on behalf of older adults and people with disabilities are asking federal agencies for a "full-scale investigation" following what they say are misleading Medicare Advantage advertising practices by UnitedHealthcare.
4. Arizona awarded long-term managed care contracts to Centene and UnitedHealthcare.
5. Medicare Advantage rate changes will have a ripple effect through UnitedHealth Group's business in 2024, but its leaders have a sunny outlook despite lower projected growth.
6. Optum patients enrolled in fully accountable Medicare Advantage plans — where Optum takes full financial and clinical responsibility — have better health outcomes than patients enrolled in traditional Medicare, according to UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
7. UnitedHealth Group's Optum arm added nearly 20,000 physicians in 2023, Optum Health CEO Amar Desai, MD, said.
8. Nearly 4 million people applied to work at UnitedHealth Group in 2023, CEO Andrew Witty said.
9. UnitedHealth Group outlined its five strategic growth priorities at its annual investor conference.
10. UnitedHealth Group expects 2024 revenues to be at least $400 billion.
11. UnitedHealthcare is updating its prior authorization and concurrent review process for home health services that are delegated to Home & Community Care, the payer's home care division.
12. Covina, Calif.-based Emanate Health is accusing UnitedHealth Group's Optum of pressuring the system not to compete with Optum in the primary care business, and of steering patients away from their physicians who left Optum to join Emanate's practices.