UnitedHealth Q1 Care Activity Under Baseline, Revenue Growth Persists

Membership

UnitedHealth Group Commercial offerings expanded by 100,000 people in Q1, even amidst a “challenged US employment environment,” Witty explained. “This underscores the growing consumer orientation, affordability, and breadth of our products.”

Chief Financial Officer John Rex also noted in the webcast that since Q1 2020, the number of people in Medicaid managed care programs grew by almost 1.1 million.

Additionally, the payer expects a year of high growth in Medicare Advantage offerings, with an estimated 900,000 more seniors served. Rex noted that this estimate is made up of about 775,000 Individual and Group Medicare Advantage members and 125,000 dual-special needs plans.

Healthcare spending

Over the course of Q1, total care activity, including COVID-19-related care, ran slightly below the seasonal baseline.

“Pacing of elective care activity through the quarter generally tracked –and in opposite directions –with the rise and decline of COVID incidence rates, which were much higher in the early part of the quarter than in the latter part,” Rex explained.

“To put this in perspective, February and March showed COVID-related care at about half the level experienced in January. Since the quarter’s end, we have again begun to see a rise in COVID-related care, while at this time not approaching the January levels,” he continued.  

In particular, outpatient care activity was moderately below seasonal baselines. However, inpatient activity was above baselines, with over 55,000 COVID-19-related admissions during Q1, Rex noted.

Additionally, UnitedHealth Group’s HouseCalls clinicians helped provide more services compared to last year.

“We conducted nearly 600,000 home visits in the quarter, as more seniors and care givers were vaccinated and comfortable having in-person visits,” Rex said. “That’s up by a third compared to first quarter 2020, and about four times higher than what was achieved in the second quarter 2020.”

Revenue

UnitedHealth Group’s first quarter revenues of $70.2 billion grew $5.8 billion, or 9.0 percent year-over-year, reflecting growth across Optum and UnitedHealthcare alike. Operations earnings grew 35 percent to $6.7 billion from Q1 last year.

Among Optum Insight members specifically, revenues increased 14 percent and operating income increased 45 percent compared to Q1 last year as more normal healthcare utilization levels returned.

Q1 cash flows from operations came in at $6 billion, or 1.2 times net income.

Consumer Experience

The health plan has driven greater member engagement with seniors in Q1 by increasing adoption of digital tools, which in turn has increased adoption of UnitedHealth Group’s digital therapeutic offerings.

“Monthly active users of our digital offerings have risen double-digits, with similar increases in online transactions,” President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk McMahon said in a press release. “This has led to greater adoption of our digital therapeutic offerings. In the first quarter, high-risk chronic disease patients in our home monitoring program logged over 1.5 million biometric measurements, such as glucose levels, enabling 99 percent medication compliance and an NPS of 84.”

Additionally, behavioral health needs have increased greatly during the pandemic. “As a result, we have seen substantial adoption in our digital behavioral platforms that provide on-demand emotional support, logging a rise of over 100 percent in utilization,” McMahone explained.

 “The story you heard about this quarter is the story you have heard for many years and will continue to do so about UnitedHealth Group: a focus on better serving people and organizations in health care; using the combined capabilities of Optum and UnitedHealthcare to improve care, costs, and experience; and an unwavering attention to executional excellence in all that we do,” Witty concluded the call.