UnitedHealth Group Announces Free Behavioral Health Coaching

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) gave select health insurance members free access to virtual behavioral health coaching.

The company announced Thursday that certain commercial health insurance members gained access to the service on Jan. 1, 2023. The move impacts 5 million members on fully insured plans. Self-insured employers may purchase access to the service, according to a news release. 

The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based health insurance, health care and health services conglomerate offers commercial health insurance through its UnitedHealthcare division.

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“UnitedHealthcare recognizes the intrinsic link between behavioral health and physical health, and is dedicated to integrating behavioral health into medical care,” Dr. Rhonda Randall, chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare, said in the release. “With 1-in-5 Americans experiencing a mental illness within a given year, it’s important for us to offer a range of low acuity to high acuity support programs for those who may need it, with the goal of helping to address access and affordability challenges.”

Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s services division, will provide the coaching service. Specifically, it will do so with the digital behavioral health service AbleTo.

The coaching program supports members with mild depression, stress and anxiety through an eight-week program. Coaches will engage with members via one-on-one video chats or audio-only visits once a week and via messaging within the AbleTo app.

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The app will also provide content and tools. The coaches are not licensed mental health care providers, the release states. They will be overseen by licensed providers. 

Optum owns several behavioral health assets. These assets include Refresh Mental Health, the second-largest outpatient mental health provider in the U.S., as well as AbleTo. 

News of Optum’s acquisition of Refresh Mental Health broke in March 2022. It was a defining deal for the year and was estimated to include a more-than-$1 billion price tag.

In June, Optum elevated AbleTo CEO Trip Hoffer to CEO of OptumHealth’s behavioral health solutions. It acquired AbleTo in the spring of 2020.

UnitedHealthcare’s behavioral health provider network totals 500,000, including 125,000 virtual care providers.

UnitedHealth Group reportedly is also the largest employer of physicians in the U.S.

Across divisions, UnitedHealth Group seeks to better integrate its services and several aspects of health care into a more convenient whole. This includes fusing behavioral health into its clinical, insurance and services offerings in the name of value-based care.

On top of managing its existing offerings, UnitedHealth Group’s M&A activity and innovation efforts make it a vital player in the behavioral health space.

In September, Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and UnitedHealth Group announced the roll-out of a value-based care initiative that includes 15 Walmart Health locations and several services, including behavioral health.

UnitedHealth Group isn’t the only payer turning its attention to behavioral health. Cigna’s (NYSE: CI) health service business Evernorth doubled its behavioral health network in the past five years. It has also made deals with a number of digital behavioral health providers including substance use disorder company Bicycle Health.

CVS Health (Nasdaq: CVS) has also made behavioral health key to its larger strategy. Most recently it invested in digital provider Array Behavioral Health.

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