The consumerization of healthcare is accelerating, and the nation's largest health insurer is keeping pace.
In 2024, senior leaders at UnitedHealthcare have shared with Becker's how the company is prioritizing personalized services and products led by consumer preferences.
In January, the company launched a revamped provider search experience for 27 million commercial members nationwide, infusing new features such as "claims-aware search," which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to show the most relevant providers to members. The revamped search process will also show members an estimated cost for services by using specific CPT codes and public price transparency data.
"Consumer expectations are always changing, and that's something that we as an industry need to embrace and lean into now more than ever," Cole Johnston, Senior Vice President of Get Care within UnitedHealthcare's consumer product office, said. "As a company, we're really trying to lead the way in this consumerism of healthcare movement and rethinking the way that we see ourselves as a traditional insurance company to more of an assurance company, which is really our role."
Along with the more accurate and personalized search results, UnitedHealthcare's members will be able to search for services tailored to specific family members, read patient reviews powered by Healthgrades, and browse an interactive map to find providers in a geographic format.
In 2022, the payer introduced Surest, a deductible-free offering that has become the company's fastest growing commercial health plan. Built around price transparency data, the Surest app incentivizes members to compare prices for healthcare services.
"Based on our results, we know that consumerism works," Surest CEO Alison Richards said. "If you give people a plan they can understand and feel comfortable using, coupled with information when they need it, they will make informed choices that benefit them – both from a health and financial perspective – and that benefit their employer too."
In March, Aon published an analysis of medical and pharmacy spending among Surest members in 2022, which totaled more than 156,000. The analysis found that Surest members had $412 lower total spend per-member per-year and a 7.7% lower total cost of care.
"We expect continued growth for this plan, as more employers and consumers recognize the value of this reimagined approach," Ms. Richards said.