Home-based care is a key part of UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) mission to further engage with its members. That’s one takeaway from the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Friday.
Heather Cianfrocco, president of UnitedHealth Group’s health care services arm Optum, pointed out home- and community-based services as an area that UnitedHealth Group heavily invested in 2023.
One of the ways UnitedHealth Group threw its weight behind home-based care, of course, were two major acquisitions.
Optum acquired the home health giant LHC Group in a $5.4 billion transaction last year. The company also made plans to purchase Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), another major home health player.
The reduced Medicare Advantage (MA) funding outlook was top of mind for UnitedHealth Group, as it influenced how the company prepared for 2024 and beyond, according to CEO Andrew Witty.
“We’ve been able to both deliver on our growth commitments and invest, and prepare for a reduced MA funding cycle over the next three years,” he said during the call.
Witty also touched on the role that value-based care continues to play at UnitedHealth Group.
“Value-based care, for us, is a proven way of overcoming many of the widely-recognized shortcomings of a fee-for-service-based health system, such as fragmented consumer experiences and incentives that can emphasize volume over quality,” he said. “Our value-based offerings empower physicians to provide more connected, coordinated and comprehensive care, align incentives among consumers, care providers and health plans, deliver better health outcomes and improved costs.”
At the end of last year, Optum served over 4 million patients in fully accountable value-based arrangements.
By the end of 2024, Optum will grow to serve another 750,000 patients under such arrangements. This is twice the number of people the company served two years ago, Witty noted.
“Even with the strong growth and significant investments we’ve made, our market presence is still quite modest, and the opportunity expansive,” he said. “4 million patients served — just a small fraction of the many more people whose health, ultimately, will benefit from these models of care.”
Overall, UnitedHealth Group’s 2023 revenues grew 14.6% year over year to $371.6 billion.
Optum’s full-year 2023 revenues checked in at $226.6 billion, a 24% year-over-year increase, compared to $182.8 billion in 2022.
“We increased the number of patients served under value-based care arrangements, by about 900,000 to more than 4.1 million, expanded services in the home and broadened and deepened the levels and types of care we offer,” UnitedHealth Group CFO John Rex said during the call.
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