UnitedHealthcare Launches “Becoming Dr. You” Course to Help Older Adults Live Happier, Healthier Lives

From UnitedHealth Group:

UnitedHealthcare Launches “Becoming Dr. You” Course to Help Older Adults Live Happier, Healthier Lives

• Free online course latest demonstration of company’s longstanding commitment to educating older adults on health and well-being

MINNETONKA, Minn. (Feb. 02, 2015) — 

UnitedHealthcare is introducing an online course to help older adults take charge of their health. Free and open to anyone, “Becoming Dr. You: Essentials for a Healthier, Happier Life” is designed to be a common-sense guide to health and wellness for seniors.

Dr. Reed Tuckson, a physician with four decades of experience, is the instructor of “Becoming Dr. You,” which is based on the content in his book “The Doctor in the Mirror” (United HealthCare Services, Inc., 2011). Throughout the course, Dr. Tuckson emphasizes that the key to much of people’s wellness is in their own hands. He encourages course participants to recognize the doctor in the mirror, or “Dr. You,” and provides information, ideas and resources designed to help older adults age with vitality.

Dr. Tuckson leads participants through the “Becoming Dr. You” course content via four interactive video lessons:

• Meeting Dr. You: an introduction to the concept of “Dr. You” as well as the “normal” and “not-so-normal” signs of aging
• Lifestyle: an overview of how to make simple changes to behaviors, attitudes and habits that influence health, with special focus on reading nutrition labels, eating a healthy diet and staying active
• Home & Family: tips to make the home healthier, a guide to creating a personal safety net of friends, family and community members, and an overview of end-of-life planning
• Medical Needs: recommendations to help older adults make medical decisions that best meet their own unique needs

The self-paced course is designed to be completed in four weeks, with participants spending about one hour per week engaging in the course content. 

“Becoming Dr. You” provides participants with the information, tools and resources they need to build a personal health plan. As each lesson is completed, Dr. Tuckson prompts participants to add to their plan one step at a time. Upon completion of the course, participants should have a comprehensive personal health plan that can help them live a longer, healthier and more joyful life by serving as their guide to living and feeling healthy.

Participants can also test their understanding of the course content by taking quizzes and can engage with their fellow classmates through online discussion forums.

“While access to quality health care is critical to healthy aging, we can influence how we experience the aging process through the lifestyle decisions we make every day,” said Sam Ho, M.D., chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare. “We hope that the ‘Becoming Dr. You’ course helps seniors feel optimistic about getting older by empowering them with information and tools to build a happy, healthy life today and for years to come.”

“Becoming Dr. You” launched on Jan. 26 and will remain open for registration until Feb. 19. To register for the free course, visit www.thebigknow.com/dryou. While the course will run for four weeks, participants can progress through the course at their own pace and return to the website at any time to review the course content.

“The Doctor in the Mirror” is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, the population of older adults is undergoing a dramatic expansion.¹ Between 2010 and 2050, the population of adults ages 65 and older is projected to more than double in size, from 40.3 million to 88.5 million,² and the majority of these older adults will live with chronic conditions.³

UnitedHealthcare developed “Becoming Dr. You” to support the health needs of older adults and arm them with tools to help prevent and manage the health challenges many of them face.

With nearly one in five Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in its Medicare plans, UnitedHealthcare is the largest company dedicated to the health and well-being needs of seniors and other beneficiaries. ⁴The company offers a variety of benefits and services to its Medicare members to help improve their health and well-being, such as coverage of annual physicals, home visits through its HouseCalls program, online wellness programs, gym memberships, and vision, dental and hearing care.

With the “Becoming Dr. You” course, UnitedHealthcare aims to provide all older adults with resources that can help improve and extend their life.

“Becoming Dr. You” is the latest example of UnitedHealthcare’s longstanding commitment to educating older adults on health care topics that are important to them. The company’s Medicare Made Clear education program has been making Medicare easier to understand for seniors and other beneficiaries since 2005. The program offers tools and resources to accommodate a variety of learning preferences: guides, booklets and brochures in print format; information, blogs, quizzes and videos on MedicareMadeClear.com; and timely posts and updates via the Medicare Made Clear Facebook page and Twitter handle (@MedicareClear).

In 2012, UnitedHealthcare created National Medicare Education Week as an extension of Medicare Made Clear. Through dozens of educational events in cities across the country as well as online tools and resources, the annual observance serves to rally Medicare beneficiaries as well as their families and caregivers to learn more about Medicare.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families,and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 800,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.⁵Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves 45 million people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.⁶For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.

¹United States Census Data 
²Vincent GK, Velkoff VA. The Next Four Decades the Older Population in the United States: 2010 to 2050. Current Population Reports. US Census Bureau, May 2010.
³Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & Merck Company Foundation. The State of Aging and Health in America 2007. Whiteshall Station, NJ: The Merck Company Foundation; 2007. 
⁴Internal UnitedHealthcare Data, 2015
⁵Internal UnitedHealthcare Data, 2015
⁶Internal UnitedHealthcare Data, 2015

Plans are insured through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or one of its affiliated companies, a Medicare Advantage organization with a Medicare contract and a Medicare-approved Part D sponsor. Enrollment in the plan depends on the plan’s contract renewal with Medicare.

  Tags: UnitedHealthcare, Press Release, Announcements