Introduction
United Healthcare is one of the leading providers of health insurance in the United States. It has various insurance programs that it offers to its clients based on their needs and capacity. According to Ubokudom (2012), the Affordable Care Act 2010 has made health insurance one of the basic needs that every American should have in order to improve quality of health care services in the country. With the increasing population in the country, it is a fact that the demand for the services offered by United Healthcare is also on the rise. One of the issues that this organization should focus on following this growth in the market size should be its ability to meet the market needs. The firm should be able to handle the increased need for healthcare insurance among the American citizens. In this paper, the researcher will look at the readiness of United Healthcare in addressing the increasing healthcare needs among the American citizens in the next decade.
Readiness of United Healthcare in Addressing Needs of Citizens in the Next Decade
According to a report by Martin, Ehreth and Geving (2005), United Healthcare currently serves about 25 million Americans across many states within the United States. It has about 450 employees spread across the country. However, the increasing relevance of healthcare insurance means that this firm will need to re-strategize itself in order to meet the high demand. In the next one decade, this firm should be able to serve twice or even three times the current number of clients. As it is, the current resources of this firm may not support such a great number of clients. It will need a plan on how to expand its resources in order to sustain the increasing demand for its services.
Strategic Plan
According to Ubokudom (2012), when developing a healthcare strategic plan, it is always important to have a comprehensive analysis of the current state of affairs, compare it with the increasing needs, and find gaps that need to be filled in the expansion program. The following are the main areas that United Healthcare will need to look at when developing its strategic plan to support its future growth.
Network growth
The fact that there is an increase in the number of Americans going for healthcare insurance does not automatically mean United Healthcare will have a higher number of clients. The marketing unit will need to develop a network growth strategy that will help it attract more clients. It will need a viral marketing strategy that will help it link up with the desired clients (Roney, 2003). One of the best ways of doing this would be by developing Business-to-Business marketing strategies. When using this strategy, this firm can link up with the organizational employers and strike a deal with them so that they can convince their employees to take insurance covers with this firm.
Staffing
Staffing is another strategic management activity that will have to be planned for appropriately. The current number of employees at United Healthcare is already overstretched (Roney, 2003). It is important to find a way of expanding this number in order to manage the growing customer base. Staffing strategy should be clearly based on the benchmark that will help the management to know the appropriate ratios at various levels. As Ubokudom (2012) says, the number of employees at the managerial role should be based on the number of employees within the firm at the junior levels, and the specific tasks that should be addressed at this level. Similarly, the junior employees should be employed based on the needs of the firm. Every new employee hired should be meant to fill a gap spotted in the operations of the firm. It will require the human resource management of United Healthcare to conduct regular reviews of all the activities within the firm, from the customer service management to service delivery activities in order to determine the existence of any gap.
Resource management
As United Healthcare expands, so does its consumption of various resources. For example, the insurance market in the United States has become flooded with numerous insurance firms, and this has increased levels of competition. In order to gain a competitive edge over its market rivals, this firm will need to employ effective marketing strategies. It will need to develop promotional campaigns to elevate the position of its brand and products in the market. Marketing is one of the most important activities that a firm cannot avoid. People always tend to buy a brand that is well-known to them. The only way of making the market to be aware of a given brand is through promotional campaigns. In its ten-year plan, United Healthcare will need to ensure that it uses various channels of communication to reach many people in this country. Although social media have gained popularity among many corporate bodies in this country, the mass media should not be ignored. Using a multi-channel approach will increase the chance that the intended audience will be reached. The finance unit will have to plan for resource allocation in all the other departments.
Patient satisfaction
Patients are the customers of this firm. When patients visit a healthcare facility, they always expect the insurance company to take care of their hospital bills. However, cases exist where a patient is told that the insurance company can only pay a fraction of their bill. This may lead to serious dissatisfaction because the clients may feel the firm is failing to meet its promises. Such problems can be eliminated by regulating the expectations of the clients (Shi & Singh, 2010). The marketing unit of this firm should explain to the clients what to expect whenever they visit the healthcare facilities. This will make it easy for them to understand what to expect. This should include what the beneficiary would get when the insured passes on. When customers have this information, they will know the services they should expect from the firm. Quality services, especially when processing the payments for the patients, should be a priority for this firm. Any additional services besides the basics may help improve patients’ satisfaction at United Healthcare.
Conclusion
United Health has recorded impressive results in the past few years because of its effective management strategies. However, the expanding size of the market will need this firm to develop a strategic plan to ensure that it expands its market share. To do this, this firm will need to improve its capacity. Improvement of the firm’s capacity will require an increased resource allocation in areas such as advertising and staffing. The firm’s main focus will be to maintain a pool of highly satisfied customers in the market.
References
Martin, P., Ehreth, J. L., & Geving, A. R. (2005). A case study of United Healthcare: Lessons for health care plans. Menlo Park: H.J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Roney, C. W. (2003). Strategic management methodology: Generally accepted principles for practitioners. Westport: Praeger.
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2010). Essentials of the U.S. health care system. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Ubokudom, S. E. (2012). United States health care policymaking: Ideological, social and cultural differences and major influences. New York: Springer.