United Healthcare 2003 Annual Report Download - page 9

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 9 of the 2003 United Healthcare annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 72

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72

As our company advances on many fronts to make health care work better, we remain guided by
key beliefs that have only grown stronger over the past several years:
>As a nation, we can and must cover everyone. Our society must provide an essential level of
health care for all people. Without such basic and universal coverage, both human suffering and
economic inefficiency are inevitable. Focusing first on essential services, and delivering them
optimally to all people, is integral to moderating overall health care costs. Considerable evidence
suggests that we can provide timely, essential services to all at no more cost than we spend today to
provide services for only a portion of our population, because ours is a frequently inefficient and
oftentimes too discretionary health system.
>Scientifically based decisions and actions regarding health care choices are essential. Today, it
is more obvious than ever that the cornerstone for improving our health system is the adoption of
evidence-based medicine as the standard for care decisions and action. Clinical care based on
evidence must become a pervasive standard for the care that is delivered and that which is sought.
It should underscore consumer decisions, physician action, resource organization and health care
benefit coverage. The positive effect of this approach comes from our ability to conserve resources
and expend fewer dollars on marginal and, at times, unsupported approaches and interventions.
That in turn will increase access and resource availability, as well as affordability, for what is of
proven value.
>Technology can significantly contribute. The complexity and costs associated with the
administration of our current health system can be dramatically improved by applying basic
technology to standard processes for health care in a fashion similar to the way standards have been
applied in other service sectors, such as banking and manufacturing. We have already seen
—
for
our customers and our own business
—
the immense value and potential gains from efforts of this
type. Steps such as these will meaningfully advance health and well-being through simplification,
UnitedHealth Group 7