UnitedHealth Premium® program

Most of us are pretty good at spotting quality in the things we buy: Cars need good gas mileage. Houses need roofs that don’t leak. Clothing needs to be well-made.

But when it comes to health care, it may be less clear what quality means or how to go about evaluating it. To help our members make more informed choices about their health care, the UnitedHealth Premium program recognizes doctors who meet safe, timely, effective and efficient quality care criteria. You can find out if a doctor is a Premium Care physician on myuhc.com® and other physician directories, or you can view more detailed information about the Premium program.

Variations in care are a significant part of the problem in our current health care system. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine study found that only 55% of U.S. patients receive the recommended care.

We believe that by supporting and promoting doctors who meet national standardized measures for safe, timely and effective care and local geographic area benchmarks for efficient care, as well as engaging consumers in the health care decision-making process, we can help to achieve better health outcomes while improving the experience and reducing costs.

UnitedHealth Premium doctors are more likely to:

• Provide recommended wellness checks and preventive care
• Follow evidence-based guidelines to help you recover from illness more quickly
• Manage your condition with recommended tests and treatments

Quality guidelines are based on standards from organizations such as:

• National Quality Forum (NQF)
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
• American Medical Association Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement® (PCPI)