Our commitment to addressing disparities in healthcare
Everyone deserves to live their healthiest life. Optum Rx is committed to identifying disparities and addressing them in our mission to achieve health equity. Find out what we’re doing and how it can help your population.
Advancing health equity through strategic focus areas
Address disparities in pharmacy access
We're exploring health-equity-focused analytics, engagement and activation to uncover and address health barriers and disparities. Some initiatives include:
- Identifying potential health inequities for members with certain health conditions
- Educating those members about available benefits and resources
- Providing resources that address non-clinical risk factors
Drive equity in medication adherence
Our diabetes medication adherence dashboard layers member-specific clinical pharmacy data with the CDC/ADSTR* Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) on a county level. The SVI uses census data to identify communities most likely in need of support due to factors like poverty, discrimination, and lack of transportation and housing.
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Address specialty pharmaceutical costs
Optum Savings IQ technology automatically matches every eligible patient with financial assistance, copay cards and other resources that help reduce out-of-pocket therapy costs. Patients don’t need to ask — the technology finds any assistance that the patient is eligible for.
Enable multi-language support
If we can increase the cultural diversity among pharmacists and pharmacy leaders, we can increase and improve care for underserved communities. We’re working to increase this diversity by addressing one of the top barriers: access to funding for graduate pharmacy programs with the Optum Rx Health Equity Scholarship Program.
Help people in underserved communities
Community and independent pharmacies and pharmacists are a critical, trusted touch point for people in vulnerable populations. We’re piloting programs with local pharmacies to help people in underserved communities get the resources and services they need. Programs include the Optum Rx Bridge to Healthy Baby and Optum Rx Resource Bridge.
Optum Rx is vigilant and intentional about gathering and analyzing data to uncover and understand where these disparities exist within the patient populations we serve. We call it ‘making the invisible visible’ and our entire leadership team is fully leaning into this work.
Chief Executive Officer, Optum Rx
Patrick Conway, MD
Key benefits
Build more purposeful analytics
Use internal and external databases to develop health equity-focused processes and analytic methodologies.
Identify opportunities
Analyze health outcomes and identify disparities to advance the industry toward meaningful change.
Address disparities
Commit to specific equity-focused strategies and initiatives.
Evolve strategies
Innovate ways to continue reducing health disparities and create powerful, systemic change.
Making the invisible visible
From product development to customized clinical programs to targeted communications, we’re building a health equity-based business model to serve all people, better.
Related healthcare insights
Guide
Learn how identifying and addressing disparities in healthcare allows everyone to live their healthiest life.
On-demand webinar
From specialty pharmacy to drug affordability, our experts tackle your biggest pharmacy challenges.
Article
Thought leaders discuss the intentional vigilance needed to overcome obstacles impeding better access to healthcare for all.