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9900 Bren Road East
Minnetonka, Minnesota 55343
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April 22, 2022
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Dear Fellow Shareholders:
UnitedHealth Group is starting 2022 with strong momentum — well-positioned to deliver high-quality care to even more people and create greater long-term value for our shareholders and the communities we serve as we pursue our mission of helping people live healthier lives and helping the health system work better for everyone.
Combining Optum’s clinical expertise, technology and data capabilities with UnitedHealthcare’s leadership in health benefits, we are determined to help connect the fragmented pieces of the health system. Through innovations and realigning incentives, we are working in partnership with care providers, employers, and public sector leaders to help build a modern, high-performing health system and improve access, affordability, outcomes and experiences for everyone who depends on it.
Our Long-Term Growth Strategy
As an enterprise, we are prioritizing five distinct growth opportunities — which both build on our well-established, market-leading positions and further differentiate our capabilities and services to reach new markets. They are:
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Care Delivery: Building a value-based system of care focused on better outcomes at lower costs; aligning patient, provider and payer incentives; and seamlessly integrating primary, specialty, urgent, post-acute and behavioral care across clinic, in-home and virtual settings.
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Health Benefits: Growing our market-leading position in health benefits with a primary focus on affordable coverage, a simpler experience and high-quality, supported care.
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Health Technology: Developing and deploying new technology to help modernize and simplify the health system.
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Health Financial Services: Streamlining the health payments and banking experience to make it simpler, faster and more convenient for providers, payers, and consumers alike.
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Pharmacy Services: Integrating our medical, pharmacy, and behavioral capabilities to provide whole-person care, support the discovery of new drugs and treatments, and offer new services.
Informed by our deep clinical expertise, these strategies present opportunities for innovation and collaboration at Optum and UnitedHealthcare — and they support our expected long term 13% to 16% earnings per share growth rate.
Ongoing Board Development
As part of its ongoing oversight, the Board reviewed committee charters and made several changes in 2021. This included assigning overall oversight for the company’s ESG agenda to the Governance Committee and having other committees oversee specific ESG elements within their purview. We also reconstituted our Public Policy Committee, now renamed the Health and Clinical Practice Policies Committee, to better reflect its expanded oversight of clinical care and practice matters and access to care, in addition to health policy matters.
In 2021, Michele Hooper became Lead Independent Director, John Noseworthy chair of the Governance Committee and Valerie Montgomery Rice chair of the Health and Clinical Practice Policies Committee. In November, Paul Garcia, retired chairman and CEO of Global Payments, joined the Board, bringing additional executive operating experience and technological, payments and financial expertise as well as advancing the diversity of the Board.
Two of our directors, Richard Burke and Gail Wilensky, are not standing for re-election this year and will retire as of the Annual Meeting following extraordinary and distinguished service to the company and shareholders. We are deeply grateful to Mr. Burke and Dr. Wilensky for their leadership. We benefited greatly from their insights, experience, and