Amy Shaw, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Global, discusses the impact of COVID-19 in Latin America.
This week, we’re focusing on the impact of COVID-19 globally, including Latin America, where the virus has researched in recent weeks, impacting health systems in a number of countries including Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia, where UnitedHealthcare operates. 2020 was particularly challenging for Latin America.
Evan Sweeney 00:06
Hello, and welcome to UnitedHealth groups weekly dose Podcast, where we'll get you up to speed on the latest trends shaping the future of health care. I'm your host, Evan Sweeney. Before we begin this week's episode, we'd like to acknowledge the devastating impact COVID-19 is having on India. Earlier this month UnitedHealth Group through the United Health Foundation donated $1 million in response to the public health crisis in India. UnitedHealth Group is also offering a one to one match for employees making a financial donation to nonprofit organizations in India, if you'd like to contribute visit to giving.uhg.com. Now to this week's episode. This week, we're focusing on the impact of COVID-19 globally, including Latin America, where the virus has researched in recent weeks, impacting health systems in a number of countries including Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia, where United Healthcare operates 2020 was particularly challenging for Latin America. And in recent months, countries like Brazil have been hard hit by newly emerging variants driving a spike in cases which has been compounded by unlimited access to vaccines. Joining us today to talk about how the pandemic has impacted Latin America is Amy Shae, CEO of UnitedHealthcare global. Amy, welcome to the podcast.
Amy Shaw 01:24
Thanks for having me, Evan.
Evan Sweeney01:25
Great. Well, maybe first you can tell us a little bit about UHC Global, I'm sure. You know, many of our colleagues know of it, and maybe have, you know, some sense of what that covers. But you know, who are the customers? And what does that business do?
Amy Shaw 01:42
We are both an insurance and a delivery business. We serve about 7 million members, 5 million of which our medical members, 2 million our dental members, we own hospitals, about 50 of them as well as about 200 clinics and outpatient centers. We operate really in two main businesses, global markets and global solutions and our global markets. We have our insurance and care delivery assets in South America, spanning across Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru. And then in Portugal, we also have hospitals that we operate in that country. And then our global solutions business. We provide health and wellbeing solutions for globally mobile pop up populations, primarily expats and international traffic travelers.
Evan Sweeney 02:28
Okay, so a sort of a broad selection there. Yeah. for everyone. So you became CEO relatively recently, correct? Can you? Can you tell me a little bit more about these first few months? What do you been focused on? What sort of observations you've made?
Amy Shaw 02:45
Yeah, absolutely. So I had the honor and privilege of being asked to be CEO effective January 1 of this year, and I'll tell you, it's been, it's been a lot of fun and a lot of learning and a lot of getting to know the team, if you will, over telepresence, and other communication vehicles. But I would say for the most part, most of our markets have been going through second and or third waves of COVID since January, and so we have just been laser focused on making sure that we are serving our members and that those who use our delivery assets in the markets where we have them are getting the best possible care. We're also focused on our clinicians and frontline employees, ensuring that they get the care that they need, as they're really bearing the brunt of this pandemic. You know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
Evan Sweeney 03:40
Yeah. Can you give us a bit of a status update on you know, where things are now, and again, we're recording this on May 5, so so things could change between now and when this airs, but what what's happening now, and you know, how are these come these countries managing?
Amy Shaw 03:58
Yeah, I would say that we're in a variety of different states across our markets. In Portugal, they reached their third peak in January and have been steadily declining since. Within Brazil, they had a very severe second wave that peaked, you know, started maybe late December continuing through first quarter peaked late March, early April. And so we're starting to slowly see COVID levels decline there, but it's still fairly elevated. Same story in Chile. They peaked in February, March, and are seeing a very slow decline as well, I'd say Colombia and Peru are, are still pretty high and in the intense, you know, Battle of COVID at this point, but hopeful that that they too, will reach a peak soon and start to slow decline.
Evan Sweeney 04:47
And is that driven largely by by the variants that have emerged or is there other factors at play?
Amy Shaw 04:55
Yeah, I think it's a couple of different things. Certainly, they all believe that variants are a factor, I think we have all of the variants and all of our markets. And so that being much more aggressive than the first wave of COVID. I think also in especially in South America, they're in their summer. And so they had some celebration events. And January, February, as well as, you know, High Holidays, time and season for them, where people got outside a little bit more interacted with one another. And I think that also contributed to some of the spread.
Evan Sweeney 05:31
Yeah. And I mean, I think obviously, in the US here, we're, you know, focused on getting vaccinated, many, you know, we're seeing the vaccination levels rise are places like, you know, Brazil, Chile, Peru, those that you mentioned, seeing that same impact. How is that vaccination rollout going?
Amy Shaw 05:51
I would say that it's probably the most successful in Chile. And, you know, again, there are a variety of reasons as to why our markets have had success with vaccination strategies, I would say that getting adequate supply in the country and ensuring that the communities have access to the vaccine are top of mind. But I would say that we're most advanced in Chile, with probably about 25 to 30% of the population, having received both doses, which I think is somewhat consistent with the United States. And then we drop down into mid double digits or single digits in the rest of our markets. And so there's a ways to go yet on the vaccine. And I think that there's, you know, there's a supply issue that they're trying to work through.
Evan Sweeney 06:39
Right, right. And it does, it seems to underscore too. I mean, this is truly a global pandemic, it's, you know, we, we certainly feel it in the us where we are, but I mean, this is these types of waves and vaccination issues are happening around the globe.
Amy Shaw 06:55
Yeah, absolutely. And I would say to, you know, with the with the rise of COVID, and the second waves in South America, we're seeing a larger number of people needing to be on ventilators. And that's creating a supply issue, not just for our business, but for the countries, quite frankly, have certain drugs that are needed to intubate people in order to put them on ventilation. And I'm proud to say that the power of the global reach, you know, through our efforts, we've been able to source various medications in partnership with our colleagues at Optum, in partnership with drug manufacturers and other distributors across the globe, to get the much needed medications into countries so that we can continue to treat COVID patients as well as other patients who are seeking care.
Evan Sweeney 07:43
Yeah. How has the pandemic I mean, you know, we're talking about sort of what's been happening recently, but even over the last years, in some of the countries where we operate, how has that impact been sort of similar or different than what we've seen? In the USL system? Are there similarities? You know, how is that sort of played out?
Amy Shaw 08:07
I would say for the most part, they're similar. I mean, there are different degrees of it, depending on when each of the countries peaked, and certain, you know, environmental factors as to whether or not it was summer, winter, etc. But I would say for the most part, it's very similar. And I think the biggest takeaway that we have from this pandemic is that we learned how to be much more agile, we learned that we need to put more effort, much more effort into ensuring that our clinicians and frontline employees have an outlet from a mental health perspective. They're just they've been fighting this fight for over 365 days. And as you can imagine, it's really taking a toll on them.
Evan Sweeney 08:53
Yeah. Are there certain things that have emerged as sort of like, changes to those health systems? And I understand it's difficult to make sort of broad generalizations when you're talking about multiple countries that may have different sort of nuances to their system. But are there things that have emerged that have, you know, maybe indicated there could be changes to those systems going forward?
Amy Shaw 09:16
Yeah, I would say in the short term, there have been a couple of things such as the emergence of telemedicine and some of our markets that was more strictly regulated or not permitted and most of our local communities have been able to set up and stand up quite frankly, telemedicine capabilities pretty quickly. I think also there have been some loosening of the formalities around importing of medications, etc. Just trying to make sure that we can get the right medicines into the countries when they're needed, but more permanent, sustainable changes to healthcare. I'm sure they're on the horizon, but they haven't emerged yet.
Evan Sweeney 09:55
What are some of the biggest challenges still remain in those countries even Sort of after the last year, whether they were there previously and are still here or have a newly emerged,
Amy Shaw 10:06
I would say that COVID just really heightened a sense of unrest, if you will, in some of our markets in South America. And there are a lot of, you know, political and other things going on in the markets that have been fueled by COVID. To some degree, although the sentiment and some of the underlying issues and topics that are being addressed now have always been there. And you know, this is just a this is just a really unique time for most of our markets.
Evan Sweeney 10:38
Yeah. What are you focused on right now, even beyond COVID are looking forward to the next to the rest of 2021, what's sort of in your area of focus?
Amy Shaw 10:49
So I'd say in addition to obviously just ensuring that we're providing the best care possible to our members, and those who use our delivery assets, we're just focused on executing our business plan. I think the core fundamentals of our businesses are strong. We have the right team in each of our countries, they're energized, they're committed, and they live our mission every day. And so we're just trying to execute on our business plan so that we can deliver care to more people at an affordable cost.
Evan Sweeney 11:17
I'm curious, what would you say to you know, whether it's a UHG employee or someone else who maybe doesn't know a lot about the UnitedHealthcare, global business? You know, what would you sort of say to them to help describe that to help get a better understanding of what impact that business has around the globe?
Amy Shaw 11:39
I would say that, you know, it's, it's much similar to the health systems and teams that we have in the US, we have insurance operations were laser focused on affordability and trying to provide affordable solutions to the communities in which they operate. We've got care delivery assets that are focused on providing the highest quality care at the lowest price point. And, you know, supporting our global Li mobile members as well. And so I would just say there are a lot of similarities, you know, health systems, and the issues that are facing health systems domestically, are the same issues that we're facing everywhere in the world. And we may have different languages and different regulatory regimes, if you will, governing them. But for the most part, it's a bunch of people who are really committed to health care and living our mission.
Evan Sweeney 12:32
So in other words, those sort of core those core things around access, affordability quality that we sort of talked about, a lot in the US that those same, those are those translate everywhere.
Amy Shaw 12:46
Absolutely.
Evan Sweeney 12:49
Great. Well, Amy, listen is great talking to you, and really appreciate you coming on.
Amy Shaw 12:53
Yeah. Thanks for having me, Evan. It was good to meet you and talk to you as well.
Evan Sweeney 13:01
That's it for this week's episode of the weekly dose podcast. Join us next week for a discussion about the latest on the ACA exchanges. Thanks for listening and have a great rest of your week.