Annual report highlights a dedicated approach to sustainability and new $100 million initiative to diversify the health workforce

UnitedHealth Group today released its 2021 Sustainability Report detailing the company’s ongoing commitment to helping meet the needs of those it serves, including customers, employees, shareholders and society broadly.

“This year’s report demonstrates how UnitedHealth Group is helping to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve through the work carried out each day by our 350,000 team members,” said Patricia L. Lewis, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer, UnitedHealth Group. “As a leading health care organization, we recognize there is more work to be done. We continue to prioritize our responsibility to help advance sustainability efforts through community partnerships and systemwide collaboration — working together to ensure everyone has the opportunity to be healthy.”

Sustainability is an integral part of UnitedHealth Group’s business strategy, culture and mission as it works to ensure the health care system works better for everyone — both now and in the future. The report includes several new long-term initiatives focusing on advancing health equity and improving environmental health.

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Advancing health equity:

• Commit $100 million to create a new health workforce diversity program and train 10,000 clinical professionals by 2033.

Environmental health:

• Achieve operational net-zero emissions by 2035.
• Commit to setting net-zero science-based emission reduction targets through the Science Based Targets initiative Net Zero Standard to ensure our actions are based on current climate science and consistent with reductions to limit global warming.
• Achieve 60% reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 2030.
• Invest and source 100% of our global electricity demand with renewable sources by 2030.

Additionally, the report includes progress on three long-term commitments to expand access to care, improve health care affordability and achieve better health outcomes. In service of those commitments, in 2021:

• More than two-thirds of members have received preventive care services.
• Half of outpatient surgeries and radiology services were delivered at high-quality, cost-efficient sites of care.
• 10 million gaps in care were closed for our members.

See related article: The United Health Foundation Commits $100 Million to Further Advance a Diverse Health Workforce 

The company’s 2021 report also expands UnitedHealth Group’s reporting of sustainability performance by aligning disclosures to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). It focuses on efforts across UnitedHealth Group’s two businesses, Optum and UnitedHealthcare, to advance key priorities, including:

• Helping to Build a Modern, High-Performing Health System that expands access to care, improves health care affordability, enhances the health care experience and achieves better health outcomes for everyone.
• Our People and Culture, where all team members are appreciated, valued and able to reach their full potential. We are a team as diverse as the people we serve — meeting its responsibility to improve the health system and build the health workforce with a diverse pipeline of talent.
• Responsible Business Practices, through strong and effective governance practices, compliance, board diversity and independence, a commitment to ethics and integrity, and an emphasis on data security and supply chain management.
• Environmental Health, through a commitment to mitigate the company’s impact on the environment by charting a path to net-zero, reduce paper usage and lead efforts to decarbonize the health care industry.

To view or download the complete report, go to sustainability.uhg.com.

Source: UnitedHealth Group