United Health Foundation pledges $100 million to help diversify health care workforce

The philanthropic arm of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group has pledged $100 million over 10 years for scholarships and support to promote a more racially and ethnically diverse workforce in health care.

The commitment was announced last month by Patricia Lewis, the chief sustainability officer at UnitedHealth Group, at a conference in Washington, D.C.

The goal is to bolster and diversify "the pipeline of talent," Lewis said, that's coming into a variety of health care professions. The foundation expects to provide financial assistance for 10,000 future and current clinicians from underrepresented groups.

"There's not enough diversity," Lewis said at a conference called the Social Innovation Summit. "Black and Hispanic people make up about 30% of the population in this country, yet they make up 10% of the health care workforce."

Program details still are being developed, but the first cohort of students is expected in 2023. The effort will build on the company's work through the Diverse Scholars Initiative, a 15-year-old program that's provided more than $23 million in assistance to diverse student across the U.S.

Saleena Lee, a beneficiary of the Diverse Scholars program, said she welcomed the news of the new commitment.

After graduating from a Brooklyn Center charter high school in 2014, Lee received significant financial help from the UnitedHealth Group initiative so she could earn her degree in nursing at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She's now working as a registered nurse in Las Vegas and hopes others like her in the Twin Cities' Hmong community will learn about the new initiative.

"In the Hmong community especially … they're not aware of the opportunities that they have," Lee said. "Within our culture, you're not really pushed to ask for help."

UnitedHealth Group is Minnesota's largest company by revenue. It operates UnitedHealthcare, which is the nation's largest health insurer, as well as a fast-growing division for health care services called Optum.

The $100 million commitment is the largest single philanthropic commitment thus far by the United Health Foundation, which in 2020 providing $30 million to support people affected by COVID-19.

Separate from the foundation, UnitedHealth Group announced in 2007 it would direct $100 million over 10 years to community organizations that promote health, education and social well-being in Minnesota.

Scholarships will be available to students who are new health care as well as current clinicians wanting to expand their skills. Medicine, nursing, midwifery, mental health and other specialties are some of the program's target disciplines.

"We are focused on building a health workforce that better reflects our diverse society," UnitedHealth Group said in a statement to the Star Tribune. "The program seeks to reduce racial and ethnic representation disparities across many clinical roles."

Having more clinicians from racial and ethnic minority groups should help patients of color get better care, Lewis said during comments at last month's Washington, D.C., summit.

Black mothers in the U.S. are four times more likely than white mothers to die of pregnancy-related complications, Lewis said. And Black newborns have three times the mortality rate of white newborns.

"When they do have physicians who are Black, in this case, as we are talking about, the mortality rates for newborns are sometimes reduced by 50%," she said.

After she gave birth to her son some 20 years ago, Lewis said she suffered a bleeding complication associated with her being a carrier of sickle cell trait. The problem was handled swiftly by her physician, a doctor with whom Lewis developed a strong relationship aided by their backgrounds as Black women with family ties to the South.

"My doctor — because she knew me, she listened carefully throughout my pregnancy, she knew my circumstances — she jumped into action super quickly, and I honestly believe she probably did save my life," Lewis said.

"This is why health equity is really important, and part of health equity relates to building that diverse pipeline of talent that will take the time and listen to their patients and build those trusting patient relationships. They do have an impact on health outcomes."