UnitedHealth Offers Relief to Clients in Houston Amid Crisis

UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH expanded its contract with Houston Methodist Hospital, which offers healthcare facilities and is equipped with 3,091 local licensed beds. With the company’s business — UnitedHealthcare — actively speeding up efforts to contain  the coronavirus spread, the extended deal is of immense importance to its members as it provides access to Methodist’s doctors amid such a crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely hit the United States, with the death toll rising more than 2,400, which has even exceeded that in China and Italy. Earlier, owing to some disputes, UnitedHealth and Methodist could not reach an agreement. As a result, UnitedHealthcare’s members could no longer access Methodist’s hospitals and healthcare facilities from the beginning of this year. But the members were expected to have access to Methodist’s doctors until Mar 31.

Since both parties have now decided to expand the contract until May 31, keeping the present emergency in view, UnitedHealthcare’s members will continue to have access to only the doctors of Methodist and not the hospitals.

Furthermore, UnitedHealth has been actively undertaking steps to contain the spread of coronavirus since the beginning of March. It recently announced an initial investment of $50 million, which will be raised by entering several alliances. The move is intended to safeguard healthcare workers, aged people, persons plagued withthe unavailability of food or shelterand the states being most affected by the pandemic.

Among several other initiatives, the company’s UnitedHealthcare unit recently rolled out a special enrollment period, thereby allowing its customers to come under its health coverage schemes amid such a global crisis. It also decided to expand its telehealth policies, which will facilitate easy communication between customers sitting at home and their healthcare providers.

We believe that such actions undertaken by the company during the crisis are likely to boost its healthcare revenues going forward. However, shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have lost 1.2% in a year against the industry’s rise of 0.1%.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

 

 

Nevertheless, we believe that UnitedHealth’s solid healthcare business is likely to drive its shares going forward.

Similarly, one of UnitedHealth’s industry peers, Cigna Corporation CI, has expanded its deal with Memorial Hermann Health System for offering superior quality care to its members in Houston and thereby battling the dismal effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

Some other companies in the same space are undertaking several measures to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

Magellan Health, Inc. MGLN enhanced telehealth services via video calls.

Humana Inc. HUM also expanded the availability of telehealth services by providing an array of affordable and feasible services, which include early prescription refills and wider coverage of telehealth visits for urgent healthcare.

The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All

Last year, it generated $24 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $77.6 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>


Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Humana Inc. (HUM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Cigna Corporation (CI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Magellan Health, Inc. (MGLN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research