Med School, UnitedHealth Partnered on a Course. It's Now Being Revised

 The University of Minnesota (UMN) will change a medical school course offered in partnership with UnitedHealth Group (UHG) in response to feedback from students.

The current syllabus for the fourth-year elective course, "Leadership and Value in Healthcare: A UMN/UnitedHealth Group Collaboration," states a focus on preparing students to "understand the finances and gain the skills to lead value-based care" in clinical practice.

Students spend 1 day a week at Optum, UHG's health services company, "in business-school-style case discussions," and also participate in lectures and discussions with national UHG leaders, the syllabus notes.

However, the payer-partnered course is now set for adjustment, UMN confirmed.

The course was developed and overseen by UMN faculty and first taught in 2024, the university said in an emailed statement.

"Based on student feedback, instructors are refining the content to focus more broadly on health system science, including value-based care," the statement read. "The University of Minnesota oversees the entire curriculum and will continue to consider input from UnitedHealth Group. As the state's largest public medical school, we have the responsibility to educate the next generation of health professionals serving Minnesotans, including ensuring an understanding of the operational, administrative, and financial aspects of healthcare."

Revision to the course comes as one former student detailed her concerns in a commentary published in December in the Minnesota Reformer that was titled, "University of Minnesota med school should be wary of partnership with UnitedHealth."

In the piece, Allison Leopold, MD, wrote: "While the course may encourage critical thinking about the healthcare system, it also welcomes an onslaught of UHG propaganda without counterpoints or fact-checks of their claims. Balancing UHG's perspective with a neutral academic one -- while better than nothing -- is not a 'balance' at all."

In October, a case study on the course published in NEJM Catalyst, stated that of nine enrolled students, eight responded to a regular end-of-course evaluation, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.0 given to an "overall recommend to others" statement. (The authors of the case study were from UMN and UHG.)

It does seem other medical schools may offer courses focused on value-based care, according to course listings that appear on school websites. The authors of the case study contended that, despite the importance of physician knowledge pertaining to this payment model, medical schools have been "challenged by the lack of resources and expertise required to effectively teach these competencies."

Of the forthcoming change to the course at UMN, a spokesperson for UHG told MedPage Today in an email that the company has no control over the curriculum of the course.

The spokesperson also provided the following statement: "We value our partnership with the university to support this elective course for students who wish to learn more about the U.S. health system and real-world applications of value-based care. As with any partnership, we are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the university and its students. We look forward to ongoing discussions about how to best support students through this elective course."

https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicaleducation/119932