The Fusion Approach: How We Accelerate Our Clients Toward Success
As an internal enterprise accelerator within Optum’s Strategy and Innovation division, Fusion serves business units across UnitedHealth Group, which includes both UnitedHealthcare and Optum. We developed a growing suite of successful strategies by working with clients on more than 400 unique engagements since 2016. These clients approach us for help defining their product vision, developing business strategies, and gathering in-depth customer insights, which are just a few of our focus areas. Although our projects span everything within UHG from genomics projects, to helping physicians prescribe more affordable medications[1], to making behavioral health solutions accessible to veterans[2], each endeavor relies upon Fusion’s core offerings:
Strategy- bringing together client teams to align toward breakthrough innovations in experiences, platforms, and business models.
For example…Fusion supported Prospero Health by developing strategies for the launch and market expansion of a new telehealth service
Experience- empathizing with clients and consumers, conducting thorough user research to create exceptional experiences
For example…Fusion supported UHG by translating Optum’s requirements into a Patient Mobile App. We designed an engaging experience for patients and provided recommendations that accelerated launch
Product- accelerating product transformation, ideation, and definition for leaders and teams
For example…Fusion engaged with an Optum Care Delivery Organization to conduct research and analysis on their web portals and enterprise architecture requirements. Fusion ultimately prototyped a seamless web experience and produced recommendations for two strategic paths forward
Performance- envisioning new methodologies and frameworks for teams to work within, yielding high performing teams with massive impact
For example…Fusion conducted a 4-day “Ignition” program for more than 350 of Optum’s early-career program new hires. Ignition consisted of 24 sessions to teach methods for promoting self-awareness and open-mindedness, with the ultimate goal of leveraging our diverse experiences to ideate new ways to bridge equity gaps in healthcare[3]
What does a typical client engagement look like?
For each client engagement, we implement a streamlined process that delivers results in a typical time frame of 8–12 weeks. Engagements begin with a high degree of focus on our client’s situation, accompanied by Fusion’s open-minded approach, inquiring “how can we help?”. We restate our client’s objectives as we understand them and put forth a proposal to ensure that Fusion and client are aligned.
The next step is to kick-off the project together with our clients. We review our client’s desired resolution and work backwards to craft the best problem-solving experience possible. With the end-goal in mind, Fusion team members educate themselves on their client’s problems, author a design statement, and plan in-depth interviews with pertinent experts. After executing these interviews, and synthesizing preliminary research with new discoveries, the team prepares to execute on a client session. This is where the magic comes in.
Fusion sessions are a carefully planned and methodically executed combination of thought leadership, collaborative discussion, and hands-on production. These sessions convene our client’s teams to leverage innovation, design thinking, and ideation frameworks that energize participants while generating new products, strategies, and ideas. These frameworks are not rigid- Fusion team members pivot throughout session execution as necessary to leverage the collective brainpower at the session.
All that remains is to debrief session participants, wrap up new ideas, and synthesize our discoveries and designs. We clean up artifacts generated in the session, express gratitude to all participants, and neatly present a strategy, experience, or product vision to our client. This end-result may be a prototype, business strategy, pilot design, roadmap, or breakthrough solution, to list a few. Last but not least, we analyze our own working styles, and look for ways we can improve execution for the next client engagement. We believe in the power of challenging each other’s assumptions and continuously evolving our process.
Key Takeaways
- A typical Fusion engagement lasts 8–12 weeks.
- We partner with clients across UnitedHealth Group to address challenges in strategy, experience, product, and performance.
- At the end of a client engagement, Fusion provides a prototype, business strategy, pilot design, or breakthrough solution, to name just a few.
[1]https://medium.com/fusion-accelerator/precheck-myscript-simplifying-prescribing-while-reducing-cost-2217c554b238
[2] https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-insights/2022/11/delivering-on-federal-missions-to-modernize-health-care/
[3] https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/optum-launched-a-conference-to-help-its-millennial-and-gen-z-workers-grow-here-s-what-they
About me: I am a Senior Product Experience Manager on the Fusion team at Optum. My background is in medical device R&D and marketing, which helps me understand the challenges that clinicians face in today’s healthcare environment. Want to know more? You can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-jacobs-1012/
A Fusion publication. We are employees of UHG and these views are our own and not those of the company nor its affiliates.
