Sustainable Procurement

• Our Sustainable Procurement Program goals and performance are reviewed by our board of directors throughout the year and regularly by the executive leaders who comprise our Sustainable Procurement Council. Our strategy is informed by a supply chain risk assessment, which includes broad-based environmental and human rights criteria. This assessment, conducted by a third party, strengthens collaboration with key suppliers and helps us manage risk.
• Annually, we review the sustainability practices of critical suppliers to identify policies, practices, and goals. Through these reviews, we gather supplier data and feedback on how we can improve collaboration to reduce our environmental impact. These reviews also help us understand our suppliers’ efforts to promote human rights and supplier engagement within their own networks.
• Sustainable business practices are evaluated as part of supplier selection and award consideration for select suppliers. We evaluate RFPs through a balanced scorecard, which considers sustainable business practices alongside other key factors, including cost, quality, and service delivery.
• We provide in-depth technical support programs to build capacity and improve supplier performance in areas such as environmental disclosure. We also support capacity building through our Supplier Mentorship Program. Corrective actions and improvement opportunities are identified and shared with suppliers through our Supplier Performance Management scorecards.
• Our procurement departments are informed throughout the year on program enhancements, including sustainable procurement training provisions.
• Our procurement departments collaborate with our business segments to identify, engage, and manage our supplier base to meet business objectives, enable growth, and mitigate risk for UnitedHealth Group and the individuals we serve.

• Carbon pollution reduction represents a key component of our ongoing sustainable procurement strategy. We have set near-term science-based emissions reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), meeting criteria designed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
• Annually, we complete a comprehensive supply chain emissions assessment, which identifies the most significant categories of emissions from both upstream and downstream sources in our value chain. This assessment enables us to prioritize opportunities for action and work toward achieving our science-based target.
• We have facilitated engagement with our suppliers through the CDP Supply Chain Program since 2022. CDP is the leading global non-profit organization that enables investors, companies, cities, states, and regions to measure, manage, and disclose their environmental impacts. We request CDP Climate Change Assessments from our highest-emitting suppliers to improve and accelerate their climate disclosure and ambition, enhance the quality of our own emissions inventory, and assess supplier performance when making procurement decisions. Please visit the CDP website to learn more.

Our focus on engaging with small businesses and local communities in our sourcing and supply chain helps us access unique insights, drive innovation, open new markets, enhance our social impact, and mitigate operational risks. This helps lower costs and improve quality in the health system.

• UnitedHealth Group’s enterprise-wide Supplier Risk Management Program is governed by an Enterprise Vendor Risk Council. This group oversees the program with common standards, including regulatory and compliance requirements, applicable to suppliers participating in the health care value chain.
• We engage in resiliency planning, including the identification of suppliers critical to our business functions — specifically in patient care and customer commitments — to mitigate supply chain disruptions. We maintain a process for coordinating critical supplier assessments, which are integrated into a comprehensive supplier profile and status report and can be shared across the organization, further helping us mitigate risks.

• We utilize a systematic Supplier Performance Management Program to monitor compliance with our Code of Conduct and monthly performance of contractual Service Level Agreements related to service delivery, quality, and value delivery. This helps ensure key suppliers meet our performance expectations.
• Suppliers are asked to self-report performance against contractual service level agreements and key risk indicators on a monthly basis, allowing business leaders to make informed decisions regarding sourcing initiatives.
• Data-driven supplier performance scorecards are shared quarterly with business leaders, risk colleagues, and category managers to identify performance trends and areas of opportunity. These insights help drive improvement plans for underperforming suppliers. Suppliers are evaluated on criteria such as financial stability, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance, organizational resiliency, sustainable business practices, and Net Promoter Score.