UnitedHealthcare Awarding $1 Million to Memphis-Area Nonprofits to Help Address Social Determinants of Health

• Seven organizations receiving grants through UnitedHealthcare’s
  Empowering Health program
• Part of company’s nationwide efforts to redefine access to care
  through greater investments in social and environmental factors that
  contribute to people’s well-being

MEMPHIS, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, is awarding
$1 million in grants to seven Memphis-area nonprofit organizations to
expand their services that address key social determinants of health,
and improve care access and patient outcomes.

The grants will support a range of critical needs in Memphis and Shelby
County, including dental care, access to fresh and healthy food,
addressing senior hunger and social isolation, and promoting youth
health, education and physical activity.

UnitedHealthcare is working with the nonprofits as part of its
Empowering Health program that focuses on redefining health access and
addressing the social determinants of health through investments,
innovation and volunteerism. Nearly 80 percent¹ of what
influences a person’s health relates to nonmedical issues, such as food,
housing, transportation and the financial means to pay for basic daily
needs. Yet the health care system today directs much of its financial
resources to treating illnesses rather than addressing these underlying
social needs – which ultimately creates the need for more medical care.

Grant recipients in the Memphis area include:

• Mid-South
  Food Bank – $500,000 to support and expand its mobile food pantry
  and Healthy School Pantry programs that increase access to fresh and
  healthy foods.
• Church
  Health – $90,000 to provide specialty dental care to low-income
  and uninsured residents.
• Metropolitan
  Inter-Faith Association – $90,000 to expand access to
  home-delivered meals to seniors through MIFA Meals on Wheels.
• Regional
  One Health – $90,000 to launch a food pantry at its outpatient
  clinic and provide food boxes to people who are uninsured or are
  enrolled in TennCare or Medicaid.
• Shelby
  County Education Foundation – $90,000 to purchase hygiene and
  personal-care products for low-income children attending Shelby County
  public schools.
• YMCA
  of Memphis and the Mid-South – $90,000 to launch its “Y on the
  Fly” program, featuring two mobile units delivering critical resources
  to youth including healthy meals, physical activity and water-safety
  courses, a mobile library and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
  Arts and Math) enrichment programming to local youth.
• Christ
  Community Health Services – $50,000 to provide preventive and
  restorative dental care to uninsured students, homeless individuals
  and expectant mothers.

“Thanks to UnitedHealthcare for bringing our community together as we
look for new and innovative ways to improve the health of Memphis-area
families and individuals,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, who joined
UnitedHealthcare, local officials and representatives from the seven
nonprofits at the Greater Memphis Chamber today. “No single organization
can do this alone. It takes strategic planning and teamwork as
demonstrated by UnitedHealthcare’s leadership in partnering with our
local organizations to address the social factors affecting our
community’s health.”

UnitedHealthcare will help link the seven nonprofits to one another so
they can better leverage their efforts, creating an interconnected
system of clinical and social services capable of producing better
outcomes for local residents.

According to the most recent County
Health Rankings issued annually by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, Shelby County ranked 90^th among Tennessee’s 95
counties when examining social and economic factors such as income,
education, employment, community safety and social-support services.

“Living a healthy life is about more than just a regular visit to the
doctor’s office,” said Keith Payet, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community
Plan of Tennessee. “Through programs like Empowering Health, we are
introducing innovative ways to integrate clinical and social services
and make a real impact on people’s health and well-being, especially
those who are uninsured or underserved.”

In addition to UnitedHealthcare’s support in Memphis, the company has
launched similar community initiatives and public-private collaborations
nationwide. It has invested more than $400 million in affordable-housing
communities, partnered with food banks and meal-delivery services, and
recently joined with the American Medical Association to standardize how
social determinant data is collected and used to create more holistic
care plans.

UnitedHealth Group employs 4,000 people in Tennessee and serves the
health care needs of nearly 1.3 million people statewide.

¹Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings
Model, 2014.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is
dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health
system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care
experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining
trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States,
UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers,
and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with
more than 1.2 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500
hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also
provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and
operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is
one of the businesses of UnitedHealth
Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more
information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or
follow @UHC on Twitter.

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Contacts

Media Contacts:
Tony Marusic
UnitedHealthcare
312-348-3825
office
312-363-7714 mobile
tony_marusic@uhc.com