STAT+: Internal document shows how UnitedHealth executives prepared to tamp down investor unrest
An internal document reveals how UnitedHealth Group's leadership prepared to downplay complaints about its business practices at a shareholder meeting
An internal document drafted in advance of UnitedHealth Group’s shareholder meeting this week reveals how the company’s leadership — facing an extraordinary series of financial and legal challenges — sought to downplay complaints about its business practices and assure jittery investors that it will soon return to maximum profitability.
The 18-page document, marked in red “privileged and confidential,’’ offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the nation’s most powerful health care conglomerate as it endures arguably the most difficult stretch in its nearly 50-year history. The last six months have been punctuated by government investigations, a tanking stock price, and the brazen killing of a top executive on a Manhattan street before the annual investor conference last December.
UnitedHealth’s document, labeled as a draft and dated May 29, runs through manicured talking points apparently intended to coordinate the response to shareholders’ questions. Specifically, the document shows how Stephen Hemsley, the company’s longtime CEO and board chair who shies away from publicity, is navigating the leadership shakeup since retaking the reins last month. Investors have raised pointed concerns over his $60 million pay package.
It also discusses missed revenue targets, a litany of lawsuits and federal investigations, and concerns revealed in reporting by STAT that the company uses artificial intelligence and bureaucratic barriers to delay and deny care.
