UnitedHealth in "constructive" talks: CEO

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group is in "constructive" talks with lawmakers about how to best care for underserved communities efficiently, its chief executive, Stephen Hemsley, said on Wednesday.

Hemsley's comments came at an event held by the largest U.S. health insurer by market value to unveil a prototype mobile clinic where patients can undergo tests and consult remotely with specialists via video conferencing.

Asked in an interview about conversations between his company and lawmakers crafting health care reforms, the CEO said: "Actually, we've been in dialogue for some time, very much in a constructive way about broadening access ... and about modernizing care."

Hemsley said his company had made "very real practical" suggestions of ways to save money.

"I think there's opportunities for optimizing the use of resources, many many examples of those have been offered by our company," he said. "We've offered these things very constructively and they've been received in that way."

UnitedHealth said in a report issued in May that the U.S. government could save $540 billion in healthcare costs in the next decade through steps such as using nurse practitioners to manage illnesses and prevent hospitalizations as well as linking payments to proven therapies.

UnitedHealth, working with Cisco Systems, designed the Internet-age mobile medical clinic as a way to efficiently provide care to the needy and people in rural areas.

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