Importance of Experienced Transplant Assessment Highlighted During Nat

    Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

    MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2005--

    UnitedHealth Group company manages more than 10,000 transplant
    referrals a year and helps patients determine best path to health

    As Americans take note of National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, UnitedHealth Group encourages everyone to become a registered organ donor and to make their wishes known to family members. Doing so will help improve the lives of more than 86,000 people currently on waiting lists for a transplant. The nation's largest single referral source for transplants, United Resource Networks, a UnitedHealth Group company, also takes steps to ensure that scarce, life-saving organs are transplanted only when they are medically appropriate for the individual. Eighteen-year old Brittney Thompson is a healthy testament to how the right treatment helps improve the lives of two people.
    Four years ago, Brittney was diagnosed at home in Louisiana with liver failure and told she was in critical need of a transplant. Through their health insurance provider, UnitedHealthcare of Louisiana, the Thompson family had access to the United Resource Networks transplant program, which identifies Centers of Excellence for transplantation based on volume and survival rates, depth and breadth of surgical team and professional accreditations. Their case manager advised the family to transfer Brittney to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, which is part of the United Resource Networks Centers of Excellence network, for additional evaluation.
    Upon admission, the transplant team at the University of Alabama-Birmingham hospital determined that Brittney's need for a transplant wasn't urgent. Further examination revealed that the transplant wasn't necessary and Brittney would benefit from a better solution. A short course of medication returned her liver function to normal, and Brittney was released after six days. A situation that could have ended with a young girl undergoing major surgery and a lifelong post-transplant medication regimen instead resulted in a short hospital stay and a prognosis for a healthy future. In Brittney's case, two patients benefited: Brittney avoided a transplant, and a person received the liver that would have been unnecessarily transplanted into Brittney.
    Expertise in the transplant assessment process is a critical component of the company's industry-leading Centers of Excellence networks, which can be accessed by 46 million people through insurers or employers.
    "Our focus is on using an evidence-based approach to determine the best course of treatment for the individual," said Richard Migliori, M.D., chief executive officer of United Resource Networks. " This determination is made by surgeons and physicians who are also practicing transplant experts. Each time an alternative is found, it leads to better outcomes and more cost-effective care."
    Dr. Migliori was recently appointed to a four-year term on the federal Health Resources and Services Administration's advisory committee on Organ Transplantation, the committee that advises the Secretary of Health on all aspects of organ donation, procurement, allocation and transplantation. The committee's role also involves trying to increase the numbers of organ donations.
    According to Dr. Migliori, organ donations reached record numbers in 2004 but are still far short of the waiting list. "Every 13 minutes another name is added to the list of 86,000 adults and children waiting for a life-saving transplant. Talk to your family about organ donation and if you've decided to become an organ donor, the most important thing you can do is to make sure they know your wishes," said Migliori.

    About United Resource Networks (www.urn.com)

    United Resource Networks is one of the businesses of Specialized Care Services, a UnitedHealth Group company. Founded in 1986, United Resource Networks develops Centers of Excellence Network products for people with complex medical conditions. More than 3,000 insurers and employers, representing 46 million individuals, utilize the company's products and services to help individuals in need of transplantation, or treatment for complex cancers, congenital heart disease, kidney disease or infertility. In addition to Centers of Excellence network products, United Resource Networks offers specialty case management services, medical appropriateness opinion services, and operates UnitedHeathcare's Healthy Pregnancy Program.
    United Resource Networks is also unique in providing health care companies with educational opportunities throughout the year. In these forums, case managers and medical directors join practicing physicians and surgeons to discuss the current treatments, trends and technologies that affect people living with complex medical conditions, such as those that lead to transplantation.

    About UnitedHealth Group (www.unitedhealthgroup.com)

    UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., the company offers a broad spectrum of products and services through six operating businesses: UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, Uniprise, Specialized Care Services and Ingenix. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves approximately 55 million individuals nationwide. UnitedHealth Group ranks No. 40 in the Fortune 500 and was ranked No.1 in Fortune magazine's 2005 list of America's Most Admired Health Care Companies.

    Note to editors: Interviews available upon request

--30--CLR/ms*

CONTACT: UnitedHealth Group, Minneapolis Mark Lindsay, 952-992-4297

KEYWORD: ALABAMA MINNESOTA LOUISIANA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PHARMACEUTICAL MEDICAL PRODUCT SOURCE: UnitedHealth Group

Copyright Business Wire 2005