ViVE 2023: UnitedHealth's new tech exec on how the company is aiming to accelerate transformation

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Innovation in healthcare is notoriously slow, and Sandeep Dadlani is aiming to pick up that pace.

Dadlani, who joined industry giant UnitedHealth Group as its chief digital and technology officer in September, told Fierce Healthcare that the opportunity to drive toward a "zero distance" from the patient was what lured him into the healthcare world from his role leading digital transformation at Mars.

The retail and consumer products industries move at a faster clip than healthcare traditionally has.

"This doesn't have that pace yet. This industry doesn't have it," Dadlani said. "And I think we can infuse some of that. That's what excites me. That's why I'm here."

Dadlani leads Optum Technology, a wing of the company focused on technology delivery that serves both Optum and UnitedHealthcare customers. He is also behind enterprisewide strategies around digital health and innovative technology.

The key to making this shift work at scale, and quickly? Establishing early the problem that the tech is aiming to solve. 

"It's not the quality of your AI algorithm or the sophistication of it," Dadlani said. "It is how well you frame problems."

For example, earlier this year, Optum launched Price Edge, a tool that aims to make it easier for its pharmacy benefit management members to find the lowest price on generic drugs. The offering, available to all PBM customers at no additional cost, will scan for the prices available for traditional generics and surface the lowest option to the user.

Establishing a clear framework for innovation is also where the idea of "zero distance," or having a deep understanding of the individual member, comes into play, he said. Tech companies, by contrast, are well-known for "solving big problems in dungeons," only for those solutions to end in failure pretty quickly, Dadlani said. 

The other element that's necessary for success, he said, is finding the right partners in the market to make it happen. UnitedHealth and Optum's key partners include Walmart, Red Ventures and Microsoft, which all bring their own skill sets to the table.

Optum Technology also has the benefit of sitting within a company that is home to the country's largest commercial health plan, UnitedHealthcare, as well as the diverse swath of businesses within Optum. UnitedHealthcare's broad membership bases enables it to serve well as an incubator, though it's far from Optum's only customer for new technology, he said.

"So we literally have to eat our own dog food, in the sense that if we develop it for ourselves, then it's developed for the entire industry," Dadlani said. "At some level, I feel like the center of tech for the industry, not just for Optum, not just for UHC."

Finding a problem to solve and the resources to tackle it, however, won't make a project successful on its own. Dadlani said there's a drive within UnitedHealth Group broadly to accelerate the speed of innovation, and, while it's a work in progress, the critical buy-in from the team is there.

"I'm seeing that in programs at UHG, which do get a sense of moving much, much faster than before," he said.