The UnitedHealthcare subsidiary Optum is carrying out widespread layoffs in the United States and hiring widely overseas, according to online reports.
In April, Andrew Witty, the C.E.O. of the parent group UnitedHealth Group, “told investors the company employed 400,000 people — a figure that was down about 10% from the 440,000 listed as the year-end 2023 tally in a regulatory filing,” according to The Minnesota Star-Tribune. Job cuts in New Jersey, California and Ohio this year will total 800, the paper wrote.
On the website TheLayoff.com, Optum employees were lamenting a round of layoffs and adding to a string of comments about Optum layoffs in various departments. The picture of the work behind the scenes is not pretty — with commenters detailing decisions made overseas and a slipshod work ethic at home.
Of Witty’s comment, one wrote: “Last year was a 10% reduction This year’s target is 10% total reduction. Not sure on target for 25 yet.”
Another commenter wrote: “Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) got hit again. my team has had now 5 rounds of layoffs since last October and I got it this time. last day is 09/27. sending love to everyone affected.”
Sending authorizations offshore
Posters also remarked on other staffing decisions, including sending approvals offshore.
“’I’ve worked for Optum for a few years and have been working healthcare for about 10. No other job has given me the ‘ick’ the way this company has,” an anonymous commenter wrote.
“Telling members they got denied and that decision was made from someone in the Middle East and when they appealed got denied again from someone in the Philippines. ( the denial emails I get before informing the member state the office location at the bottom of thier signature which I Google) part of me wants to blast this nationwide as I know for a fact no one wants their insurance or loved once’s insurance have decisions being made from People who are not even in the country and do. Not fully understand the healthcare system we have going on in the U.S. not to mention now they have workforce planning offshored now as well so if you are in a safe department and looking to move up that decision too is made by someone offshore who knows nothing about the team or department . … It is sickening.”
Another wrote, addressing those being laid off: “Well for those needing a job, maybe one of the Optum resources maybe dropping by the offices in the Philippines for their accelerated hiring day from 8 am to 8pm. Minimal qualifications. HS education and speak some English. Get hired on the spot the same day. None of those pesky requirements they require of American employees. Like actually knowing how to use word or a phone. And you will get prizes, free food, entertainment. You can just drop by the office by jeep, bus or van. And you can also sign up for a free bachelors degree.”
I the United States, UnitedHealthcare-Optum has recently begun requiring that therapists submit extensive paperwork in a “pre-payment review” process for mental health treatment that has held up payments for a large number of therapists and therapy clients across the United States, as we reported earlier. Patients are stopping therapy because they aren’t getting paid, as we also reported.
Comments on TheLayoff also suggested that the “payment integrity” group would be affected — the group at the center of the “pre-payment review” work, according to letters clinicians received.
What call center work is like
In a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” forum, people describing themselves as Optum employees talked about the work. Since Reddit is famous for its anonymity, there’s no way to confirm that these people work for Reddit, so we offer this with that caveat.
“It’s a sh*tty business, so it’s going to be a sh*tty company,” one wrote. “The work is stressful if you actually give a sh*t and haven’t realized your superiors have no real authority over you. If the ‘event owners’ have no consequences, neither do the reps. They just don’t want you to know this.
“Try this out: lie on every call, give out the wrong call reference numbers and mouth off to your boss. If you work where I work, and you actually take the calls from start to finish, meet your metrics (which are bullsh*t and can be easily manipulated), nothing is going to happen. You can even be rude and deny supervisor requests. My reply to the last person who asked me for a supervisor was: ‘It’s nice to want things.’ There are no consequences.”
Another responded: “It’s an absolute sh*t show. I work from home too and 90% of my calls need to be directed to the actual facility. You are a dumping ground for doctors who don’t want any patient interaction. Out of 50 calls 20 will be actually for my department. Optum just gives these people the run around and put their call center employees on the sh*t end of the stick.”
The initial poster replied: “There are not enough people to take the calls. [Customer service representatives] get away with murder and don’t even get a write up. The reason for this is that the representatives are the human firewall which makes the UHC/Optum scam work. Me answering 60 calls a day is worth way more to the company, than whatever bullsh*t my supervisor and manager are doing, and they know it.”
Wrong information
Giving advice to a new hire, that person wrote: “My advice would be to ask a lot of questions, don’t let them rush you (the trainers have to train and then do their regular duties, but that’s not your fault), and when you finally start taking calls sound as confident as possible, even if you are making up what you’re saying. You can always say you got confused and gave out the wrong information. In my experience, management won’t even ask you if you give out wrong information. They know this happens regularly and don’t really care because people will just call back and get the right information.
“When it might bite you in the ass, is if you get the same caller again, and they remember that you’re the one that gave them the wrong information. It’s happened to me a few times, and I just apologize and that’s that. The key is to sound confident. Giving out all the right information is great, but the people evaluating your calls don’t even know what your department does, they’re just looking for a confident tone and for you to give the semblance of service. Most of the calls will be about things you can’t fix. So get ready to apologize and explain to callers they will have to wait. Tell them it’s being escalated or something, even if you don’t escalate anything. Keep the caller happy and end the call ASAP. Take as many calls as possible. Quantity, not quality is the goal.
“And remember one thing: if you f*ck something up, they can always just call back and get it fixed. You do what you can, but this industry (healthcare in general) is so f*cked up, there are just layers and generations of f*ck ups that are waiting to explode at any give time. You’re just a customer service representative, not a miracle worker. So don’t let the callers get you down. Do whatever you have to do to meet your metrics. Every call has a solution, even if it’s disconnecting your router and telling your supervisor you had a connection problem. The pay is good, too. Good luck!”
The posters share advice on what to do in case of a layoff, in several versions, including advice on Cobra insurance continuation, severance, jobhunting and emailing yourself certain documents — and also advice not to email documents because that is a violation of company policy.
Hiring in the Philippines
At the same time it is laying off extensively in the United States, Optum is hiring extensively in the Philippines: This Facebook post, one of multiple similar ones in the Philippines, has the details.
- COMPANY: OPTUM
- •Hiring for our SEPTEMBER Classes•
- ₱37K monthly salary plus 10k Signing bonus
- Pc Provided HYBRID SET UP Wfh/ Virtual Process
Non Voice ( Back Office)- Dayshift or night shift fixed weekends off
- With or without BPO EXPERIENCE
- Atlst SHS GRAD or college level
Non Voice ( Back Office)Here is another:
- OPTUM is still hiring for last batch of class this october
- Newbie Rate: 19k-20k (salary offer will depend on your bpo experience)
- Healthcare Account
- Fixed Sat-Sun Day off
- Hmo day 1
- Unlimited Coffee
- PM for assistance (Tips and Guide for application process)
Healthcare Account
Offshore call center hiring for healthcare and other industries is not new; it has grown exponentially in recent years. Common locations are India, the Philippines, Costa Rica and Jamaica.
Advantages for hiring companies are especially focused on lower wages and benefits. But anybody who has been on the phone with a call center in the Philippines knows that quality control can be an issue.
Insurers are also increasingly adopting artificial intelligence and other automated tools that are supposed to speed up the approvals and authorization process, and save money. But it is clear that automated tools and AI make mistakes, and can also be used to deny claims en masse, as ProPublica reported last year.
ProPublica reported that the Cigna insurance company, using automated rules based on an algorithm, “has built a system that allows its doctors to instantly reject a claim on medical grounds without opening the patient file, leaving people with unexpected bills, according to corporate documents and interviews with former Cigna officials. Over a period of two months last year, Cigna doctors denied over 300,000 requests for payments using this method, spending an average of 1.2 seconds on each case, the documents show. The company has reported it covers or administers health care plans for 18 million people.”.
The American Medical Association has also objected to the current use of AI for claim reviews and prior authorization. The A.M.A. “House of Delegates adopted policy during its Annual Meeting calling for greater regulatory oversight of insurers’ use of AI in reviewing patient claims and prior authorization requests. While the A.M.A. supports automation to speed up the prior authorization process and cut down on the burdensome paperwork required by physicians, the fact remains that prior authorization is overused, costly, inefficient, and responsible for patient care delays,” an A.M.A. statement last year said.
“The newly adopted policy calls for health insurers utilizing AI technology to implement a thorough and fair process that is based on clinical criteria and includes reviews by physicians and other health care professionals with expertise for the service under review and no incentive to deny care.”
