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History and Innovation

Since its inception, UnitedHealth Group and its affiliated companies have led the marketplace by introducing key innovations that make health care services more accessible and affordable for customers, improve the quality and coordination of health care services, and help individuals and their physicians make more informed health care decisions.

Time Line of Selected Corporate Highlights and Innovations
 
1974
Charter Med Incorporated is founded by a group of physicians and other health care professionals who want to expand health coverage options for consumers.
 
1977
United HealthCare Corporation is created and acquires Charter Med Incorporated.
 
1979
United HealthCare Corporation introduces the first network-based health plan for seniors and participates in the earliest experiments with offering private-market alternatives for Medicare.
 
1984
United HealthCare Corporation becomes a publicly traded company.
 
1988
United HealthCare incorporates the first pharmacy benefits management company, Diversified Pharmaceutical Services Inc.
 
1989
William W. McGuire, M.D., assumes leadership of the company. Annual revenues are just over $400 million.
 
1992
United HealthCare is the first company to produce a Report Card on health care access, quality and cost measures.
 
1994
Diversified Pharmaceutical Services Inc. is sold to SmithKline Beecham Corporation for $2.3 billion.
 
1995
The company acquires The MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.65 billion. MetraHealth is a privately held company that was formed by combining the group health care operations of The Travelers Insurance Company and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
 
1996
The company's patented artificial intelligence system AdjudiPro®, which is entered into the permanent research collection of the Smithsonian Institution, is awarded the CIO Enterprise Value Award.
 
1998
United HealthCare Corporation becomes known as UnitedHealth Group and launches a strategic realignment into independent but strategically linked business segments — UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, Uniprise, Specialized Care Services and Ingenix.

The first release of Clinical Profiles(sm) takes place. Clinical Profiles, produced by Ingenix, provides network physicians with data comparing their clinical practices to nationally accepted benchmarks for care.

 
1999
UnitedHealthcare introduces Care Coordination(sm), which eliminates prior authorizations and channels those resources into consumer and physician outreach for people who will benefit most from coordinating fragmented care delivery resources.
 
2000
UnitedHealthcare launches myuhc.com®, which enables individual customers to order ID cards, check the status of claims, and access relevant health information online.
 
2001
UnitedHealthcare uses Web-enabled technology to simplify and improve service for physicians, enabling them to check benefit eligibility for patients and submit and review claims. The company also launches a Web-based distribution portal to serve small business brokers.
 
2002
Ingenix continues to introduce new knowledge and information products - including Parallax i™, iCES™ and the Galaxy clinical database - that help clients gain clinical and financial insights and improve the quality of health care delivery and administration.
 
2003
Uniprise introduces electronic medical ID cards that use magnetic stripe technology and the MasterCard® system and network to make it easy to verify patient eligibility and benefits in seconds.
 
2004
UnitedHealth Group launches iPlan® HSA, a product that integrates a high-deductible health plan with a health savings account, for employer groups. The product is offered through the company's UnitedHealthcare and Uniprise businesses. Golden Rule, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare, offers HSAs to individuals.
 
2005
Ingenix is selected by the FDA for drug safety monitoring and support. The Ingenix program includes extensive data resources and analytic capabilities to help the FDA accelerate the identification and assessment of issues and potential risks related to pharmaceutical agents.
 
2006
UnitedHealth Group announces enhanced card technology that will combine health benefit information and financial information on a single card. In addition to multiple accounts, the new cards will also provide access to an individual’s Personal Health Record, making critical health information highly portable.
 
2007
UnitedHealth Group extends and broadens its relationship with AARP for an additional seven years to include Medicare Advantage, Part D and Medicare Supplement products across all markets.


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