UnitedHealth Group to make improvements

Linda Snyder

Contributor

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The nation's second largest health insurer, UnitedHealth, recently admitted to customer service mistakes.

"We understand relationships, and we recognize that this a health system that needs to work for everyone, not just for us," stated David S. Wichmann, who is charge of the UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s individual and employer markets.

315,000 customers were lost this year due to poor customer service. Improvements are being made in customer service and faster payments for doctors. The three main areas that UnitedHealth plans to focus on include:

- Showing both doctors and patients on the day of a doctor's visit how a claim will be paid.

- Doctors will be paid more quickly.

- UnitedHealth employees will be given incentives for quality, patient advocacy and productivity.

UnitedHealth said it expects to continuing losing health insurance customers during the first quarter of 2008, but regaining later in the year.