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Diversity, Innovation
and Business Growth
By Jeanne De Amicis Stitt
Vice President, Marketing
I
UnitedHealthcare
In order to secure
resources to better focus
on the multicultural mar-
ketplace, a company must
show a quantifiable return
on investment. It is more than fostering a diverse work force
and adapting to diverse and changing market demograph-
ics. During annual and quarterly resource allocation and
priority processes, the question of a quantifiable return on
investment is inevitable.
At UnitedHealthcare, we have teams of multicultural
professionals dedicated to achieving growth by expanding
our business among diverse communities and companies
with multicultural employees. Our multicultural initia-
tives—Generations of Wellness (African American), Latino
Health Solutions and Asian American Markets—lead the
organization to create a regional and national portfolio of
culturally and linguistically appropriate health care benefit
plans and health management/wellness tools. In addition,
these teams develop and test pilot programs to gauge a prod-
uct’s appeal to multicultural populations and its potential
return on investment. Once a pilot achieves quantifiable
success, we launch the program nationally or in strategic
demographic locations.
One example of a multicultural product with a positive
ROI is Latino Health Solutions’ PlanBienSM, a health
benefit plan designed to address the cultural, language,
and health care needs of the growing Hispanic population.
Given that our Hispanic membership is significant and
growing, it is a business imperative for us to build upon our
loyal and expanding client base by serving our customers
in-culture and with bilingual excellence. This is also key to
our approach in addressing and helping to reduce health
disparities among Hispanics.
Studies indicate that communication and cultural bar-
riers are key contributors to health disparities. Though
some Hispanics may speak English on the job, many live in
Spanish-speaking households and prefer to communicate in
Spanish outside of work. The tendency to revert to Spanish
58 Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal March/April 2010
is even stronger when discussing complex issues such as one’s
health and health insurance coverage. This natural inclina-
tion to want to talk, listen, and read in one’s native tongue
can create a significant obstacle for employers, health care
providers, and health insurance carriers when attempting to
communicate with Hispanics about available plans and poli-
cies. PlanBien provides a bilingual “connection” at almost
every interface between the customer and UnitedHealthcare.
Extensive cultural competency training across the organiza-
tion has accompanied this effort.
PlanBien was introduced in the South Florida market
in a pilot program to demonstrate proof-of-concept and to
measure the financial return. Measurable financial success in
this market enabled us to secure the support, prioritization,
and resources to expand into additional markets, includ-
ing California, Texas, Arizona and Colorado—states with
significant Hispanic populations. The success of Plan-
Bien and other multicultural programs have enabled us to
obtain additional resources to enhance existing programs,
create new ones, and further expand our reach into the
multicultural marketplace.
Cultural and ethnic diversity within the U.S. population
is increasing every day. As such it is imperative to build upon
our commitment to reach out to multicultural populations
through culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate
programs that enhance the health and well-being of multi-
cultural communities—programs that are market-driven and
financially sustainable in order to achieve a successful return
on investment. Therefore, expanding health care coverage
among diverse populations requires insurance companies to
design products and services that meet and address cultural
preferences to ensure customers realize the full benefits of
their health insurance coverage and to provide them with
tools and resources that help them to enhance their overall
well-being and live healthier lives. In doing so, a quantifiable
return on investment is inevitable, in more ways than one
can imagine. PDJ