RATING
Outlook
Negative
SECTOR
Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers
Chief Sustainability Officer
T: N/A
E-mail: N/A
Stock Exchange and Ticker
NYSE: UNH
Website
Contact
T: (800) 328-5979
E.mail: N/A
Listing
- Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indices (Health Care Equipment and Services Industry Group)
Awards
- World’s Most Admired Companies in the insurance and managed care sector on Fortune’s 2022 list
- Ranked as one of America’s most community-minded companies for the 10th consecutive year in 2021 by the Civic 50 and named the leader in the Healthcare Sector category.
- Forbes’ list of 2021 World’s Best Employers and America’s 500 Best Large Employers for 2022
- Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index 2022, with a perfect score of 100.
- Recognized with the 2021 Brillante Award for Corporate Excellence by Prospanica for outstanding contributions to the educational, economic and social well-being of the Hispanic community.
- Named one of the best places to work for disability inclusion in 2021 by the Disability Equality Index®
- Ranked 4th in the nation on the 2022 Military Friendly® Employers list and also as a Top Ten 2022 Military Spouse Friendly® Employer
Revenue
$287.6B
Market Capitalisation
$485.426B
Employees
350,000
Content source
United Heath Group Sustainability Report
Evaluation of United Heath Group
UnitedHealth Group Sustainability report covers activities that occurred between 1 January 2021 to 1 December 2021. Unitedhealth seeked independence assurance from Upstream Sustainability Services, JLL (“Upstream”) regarding Environmental data, GHG data and Social value metrics. The data is also used in the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Index (“DJSI”), Carbon Disclosure Project (“CDP”) and Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (“SECR”) disclosures. Any other information included in the report as well as in this analysis is mainly distributed by UnitedHealth Group.
The structure of the report appears complicated and lacks information related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, only 3 goals and progress can be identified, related to social aspects, the rest of the information are mainly initiatives without a link to a specific goal. The analyst independently identified SDGs and included data from the report in order to conduct an evaluation of the sustainability efforts. Even constructing the information this way, there have been gaps identified in measuring properly the progress towards SDGs. For example, the company’s main environmental goal is to reach net-zero by 2035. There are plenty of initiatives the company’s taking, but needless to say, emissions from Scope 1, 2 and 3 have increased since 2020. Also energy consumption increased by more than 100%. These trends in emissions and energy consumption do not show a positive track for reaching net-zero by 2035.
On the other hand, it seems the company is doing better in the social are where both women and people of colour are provided with equal chances, in terms of pay and to hold managerial positions. Moreover, education programs for underdeveloped communities are sponsored through grants, and well-being programs are encouraged and rewarded.
It is hard to identify and measure engagement with supply chains in terms of ethical and sustainable behaviour. Similar with the products offered, not able to identify sustainability progress.
There are certification granted for several green locations, but determine the percentage of locations with sustainable certifications. UnitedHealth is proud to have received several awards, mainly for best places to work for regarding LGBTQ+ community, disability inclusion, military friendly etc.
Overall the company sustainability efforts lack specific goals and progress towards accomplishing those goals and therefore it has been provided with a D score and negative outlook.
Sustainability Scorecard
United Heath Group Company Activity
Unitedhealth Group is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services through two distinct and complementary businesses: Optum and United Healthcare.
Within the Optum segment there are OptumHealth, OptumInsight, and OptumRx. OptumHealth provides access to networks of care provider specialists, health management services, care delivery, consumer engagement, and financial services. OptumInsight provides software and information products, advisory consulting arrangements, and managed services outsourcing contracts to hospital systems, physicians, health plans, governments, life sciences companies, and other organisations. The OptumRx provides pharmacy care services and programs.
The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older; Medicaid plans, children’s health insurance and health care programs; health and dental benefits; and hospital and clinical services.
United Heath Group Sustainability Activity - As per company declarations
UnitedHealth Group’s approach to sustainability reflects their belief that the health of any society can be measured only by the health and well-being of its people. Informed by the stakeholders, UnitedHealth’s sustainability priorities include, helping to Build a Modern, High-Performing Health System, environmental health to mitigate the company’s impact on the environment and lastly creating a culture where all team members are appreciated, valued and able to reach their full potential.
Certificate & Labels, Standards and Frameworks
- LEED Certified Facilities
- WELL-certified campus
- SASB
- SBTi
United Heath Group in the news: Press Reviews and Social Media
- Bloomberg (April, 2022 by John Tozzi): UnitedHealth Inflated Drug Costs, Louisiana Attorney General Alleges in Suit
UnitedHealth Group was accused by Louisiana’s attorney general over inflating prescription drug charges in the state’s Medicaid program. Secret prices and complex supply chain is what determined UnitedHealth’s pharmacy benefits manager, Optum Rx “to pay billions of dollars more per year for prescription drug benefits.” Furthermore, in the petition, Optum charged the state more than it paid pharmacies to fill prescriptions and took money from pharmacies without passing it back to the state. When asked to comment on the allegations, UnitedHealth said in a statement that “its services are performed in accordance with state regulations” and therefore, “We believe this lawsuit is without merit and will defend ourselves against these unsupported allegations,..”
Highlights from United Heath Group Sustainability Report
Achievements
- Commit to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) NetZero Standard
- Enhanced board oversight of the company’s ESG agenda
- 28M virtual care visits delivered to UnitedHealthcare members in 2021
- 2M+ in-home clinical visits through HouseCalls program in 2021
- 14.4M Unitedhealthcare members access care from physicians in value-based arrangements
- Formed the Global diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Office and an Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Board
- 35% lower costs for Medicare Advantage members served by Optum Health physicians in value-based arrangements.
- Grew Optum Health’s network to 300K+ behavioral health providers serving 40M+ individuals.
- $800M invested in affordable housing since 2011.
- $3.8B spent with diverse suppliers over the last decade
Weaknesses and Setbacks
- Unitedhealth group is behind on climate targets
Targets vs Progress Reported
Target | Results reported |
---|---|
Invest and source 100% of our global electricity demand with renewable sources by 2030 | - Currently evaluating the sourcing of renewable energy across operations, including on-site and off-site renewable energy production, virtual power purchase agreements and other renewable purchasing options: - Energy consumption in 2021 increased to 1,151,438 (MWh), +201.7% since 2020 - Consumption from renewable sources accounts for 7.22% from total usage |
Committed to reducing paper usage and advocating for the reduction of paper across the health system to the greatest extent possible over the coming years | - Of all the paper generated, UnitedHealth estimates roughly 40% is related in some way to regulatory direction and requirement: - Collaboration with government, regulators and others to reduce or eliminate paper usage and create digital solutions and alternatives Working with employers, consumers, providers, health equity advocates and the healthcare industry, as well as regulators and government partners. |
Reach operational net-zero by 2035 | - Collaboration with CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) to retrieve qualitative and GHG emissions data from targeted suppliers to establish a baseline from which future reduction goals will be developed - The targeted suppliers represented roughly 35% of centrally managed procurement spend in 2021 - Use this data to inform GHG scope 3 inventory baseline measurement in 2022 and engage suppliers on climate risks and opportunities going forward - Over the next 24 months, working with the SBTi to validate near-term and long-term targets - Completing an assessment and measurement of our entire footprint - Improving energy efficiency in our buildings - Investing in the transition to renewable energy |
Achieve a 60% reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 2030 | - Current emission values (Scope 1 and 2) have increased by 131% since 2020 due to Change in boundary: report includes all global businesses’ and fleet data within operational control for the first time Change in methodology: sites that were previously reported as scope 3, moved to scope 1 and 2 Portfolio growth: Through business combinations Carbon offsets account for 3,596 (mt CO2e), 0.45% of total emissions |
85% of the members will receive preventive care services annually by 2030 | - 69% of the members received preventive care in 2021 y expanding telehealth access, increasing provider incentives to complete preventive care and increasing access to in-home care |