UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is looking to integrate behavioral health care into its continuum of care as it continues its push for whole-person health.
“We will serve the patients in clinic settings, in their homes, integrating behavioral care supported by our data driven clinical and next best actions and all coordinated to provide the right care when and where they need it,” UnitedHealth Group CEO Sir Andrew Witty said during the company’s Q4 earnings call Friday.
Behavioral health integration is also part of the large payer’s efforts to expand its value-based care offerings. UnitedHealth projects that this year 4 million people will participate in fully accountable value-based care provided by OptumHealth. That is 1.8 million more than 2022.
Many of these patients will have a Medicare Advantage plan offered by UnitedHealth or one of the other payers using UnitedHealth Group’s services division Optum.
“Our ability to embed behavioral health care services within our primary care and value-based care offerings has been differentiated and will continue to grow, as well as our utilization of virtual behavioral care solutions in both the home and clinic environments,” Wyatt Decker, CEO of OptumHealth, said on the call. “We’re pretty excited about how this is coming together. And we’re creating a differentiated offering that helps accelerate value-based care growth and provides that comprehensive care.”
UnitedHealth’s Behavioral Health Efforts
UnitedHealth has been quickly expanding its behavioral health offerings. In fact, in October the company revealed that it grew its behavioral health network by 25% over a “couple of years” – and is continuing to prioritize the space in the future.
The payer conglomerate has also been growing its behavioral health offerings through acquisitions. In March of 2022, Optum acquired outpatient mental health provider Refresh Mental Health. Several sources have reported the purchase price of the deal was over $1 billion.
“Refresh Mental Health … fits right into that value-based proposition in terms of how we believe we need to bring behavioral health management alongside medical management,” Witty said during the company’s Q2 earnings call last year.
Partnerships also appear to be a large part of UnitedHealth’s value-based care strategy. In 2022 UnitedHealth and retail giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT) announced they would be rolling out a value-based care model at 15 Walmart locations in 2023. The partnership will revolve around care for seniors on Medicare Advantage plans and behavioral health is expected to be a major component.
UnitedHealth Group as a whole continues to beat revenue expectations. Last year UnitedHealth Group announced revenues of $324.2 billion, a 13% year-over-year increase.
Companies featured in this article:
