Introduction
United Healthcare is a company, that aimed to provide its clients with quality health benefits and better access to treatment. The company helps people under 65 years old and members of low-income families, pregnant women, people with special needs, and in other challenging situations (“About us”, n. d.). Customers are offered to find a sufficient treatment plan with a satisfactory price, ways of accessing it, and care for their physical and mental health (“Hospital Performance-Based Compensation Program”, n.d.). However, currently, a range of clients have complaints about inappropriate products and services quality, which prompt them to choose other alternatives.
To respond to this problem and guarantee the successful development of the company, a Cost and Benefit Analysis (CBA) was conducted. It included both monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits of United Healthcare. It is aimed to calculate the regular expenditures and compare them with incomes to optimize the company’s operation. In addition, other indicators of successful operation were reviewed, which are employees’ time, client base, company’s reputation, potential risks, market saturation, penetration uncertainties, and other aspects in the Cost-Benefit Analysis: Non-Monetary Costs and Benefits. Such evaluation allows for the introduction of relevant management changes to contribute to the profitable development of the company and quality improvement.
Value Proposition for Change Management
To make services delivered by United Healthcare more attractive for customers, some value propositions may be implemented. As the company’s targeted audience implies people with low income, suggestions should regard the price (“Hospital Performance-Based Compensation Program”, n.d.). For instance, United Healthcare may offer significant discounts in case several family members will be willing to use its services. Moreover, United Healthcare may supply ways of reducing expenditures on treatment, for example, suggesting saving on prescriptions or finding other care options. This measure will stimulate customers to pay attention to United Healthcare again.
Another value proposition regards employees advocates for the company’s clients, which will support them in case of severe hardships. This includes cases of cancer, diabetes, COPD, and other diseases diagnoses. Advocates will navigate customers’ steps in their treatment, providing their help in reviewing and choosing the best possible options. These employees may also help with decision billing questions. This way, United Healthcare will be capable of delivering more value for its current clients and making them more loyal. In addition, the described suggestion will be useful for attracting new customers to use United Healthcare’s services and improve their quality.
Strategies to Influence and Impact the Changes for Quality Improvement
To effectively implement family discounts and increase the client base, the incentive should be supplemented with an advertising campaign. It should be placed on advertising boards on the subway, and targeted announcements on social networks should be used. Moreover, calling members of the client base will be effective as well. The advertising campaign should highlight three major strengths of United Healthcare: affordable prices, a range of health benefits, and support from advocates. The information about family discounts should be included with the example of prices for options in high demand, for instance, coronavirus vaccines and treatment.
To make advocates’ services available for numerous clients, a separate department should be established. After that, new employees should be recruited, and they are required to complete obligatory training on the company’s services and options. In addition, they should be provided with essential guidelines on caring for people with severe diagnoses, such as cancer, tuberculosis, diabetes, and others. They should be aware of all the details of the treatment plan and the possible needs of such patients. The described strategies will allow to implementation of value propositions successfully.
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Assumptions
To evaluate the current position of the company and its plans for the nearest future, a CBA analysis was conducted. Generally, the results were positive, as United Healthcare is still profitable and is capable of covering all organizational expenditures and making essential savings without significant efforts. Moreover, there is a likelihood that this tendency will be contributed in the future in case of production expansions. As is seen from Cost-Benefit Analysis: Monetary Costs and Benefits, there are further plans for product and service line expansion.
Moreover, it is expected that from year to year, expenditures on production and transportation will be reduced. This will be realized via concluding partnerships with companies, which supply United Healthcare with essential work materials. The saved money will be saved for realizing risk management. They will be spent only in case of emergencies, ethical concerns, crimes at workplaces, and other unlikely situations (“Cost-Benefit Analysis”, n.d.). In addition, it is planned that shareholders will invest around $50,000 each year, and these sums will be used to improve production and quality, training personnel, and other activities, helpful for improving business performance (Plowman, 2014). Therefore, United Healthcare appears to be sustainable to risks, as it will actively develop its production and professionalism and save sufficient sums of money.
Internal and External Benchmarks
For estimating business performance, both internal and external benchmarking were conducted. The internal analysis revealed that profit, client base, and demand in general, are higher in offices, which are located in huge subdivisions. However, in offices that are situated in the city center, these indicators are lower. Therefore, a location plays a crucial role in customers’ decision-making, and it is recommended to open new offices in places, which are popular with families of low and middle income (“Internal vs. External Benchmarking”, 2019). Within external benchmarking, United Healthcare was compared with its hugest rival in the market. The analysis revealed that the opponent had obtained more popularity due to a successful advertising campaign, which attracted numerous clients. Therefore, the mentioned strategy of advertising will be sufficient for improving United Healthcare’s business performance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it could be mentioned that generally, United Healthcare is profitable and successful in its field. However, these days, there are frequent complaints about the unsatisfactory quality of services and products, prompting clients to use other alternatives instead of United Healthcare. A sufficient solution could be implementing family discounts and employing advocates for supporting and helping customers. To realize these ideas, an advertising campaign should be launched. In addition, United Healthcare should employ and train additional personnel. This way, the company will become more competitive in the market and attract numerous customers.
References
About us. (n. d.). United Healthcare. Web.
Cost-Benefit Analysis (n. d.). Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.
Hospital Performance-Based Compensation Program. (n. d.). United Healthcare. Web.
Internal vs. External Benchmarking. (2019). Hotstats. Web.
Plowman, N. (2014). Writing a cost-benefit analysis. Web.