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03 - Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter-FAQ
03 - Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter-FAQ
03 - Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter-FAQ
UnitedHealth Group requires employees and contractors to report all suspected illegal or
unethical conduct, including violations of law, contractual obligations and company
policies (including the Principles of Ethics and Integrity), or concerns about accounting,
internal controls, auditing matters, or suspected fraud and abuse. Employees who learn of
any situation that may jeopardize UnitedHealth Group’s integrity must promptly report
the information.
You should use the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter to report possible violations of
law or regulation. If you have a general concern or complaint about management,
employee benefits, or other issues that relate to employment but are not possible
violations of law or regulations, you should contact your supervisor, your
supervisor's manager, or HRdirect (1-800-561-0861). HRdirect cannot accept
anonymous cases. If you want to remain anonymous, you can contact the Ethics &
Compliance HelpCenter. If the company determines the issue you have raised cannot be
addressed anonymously, you will be notified through the follow-up process through the
Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter. For more information about remaining anonymous,
please see “Can I remain anonymous?” below.
The following are answers to commonly asked questions about the reporting process.
Additional information is available in the guide, “Using the Ethics & Compliance
HelpCenter,” which is available on HelpCenter Web site.
UnitedHealth Group requires employees to report all suspected violations of the law,
contractual obligations and company policies, including the Principles of Ethics and
Integrity. For example, you should contact the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter if:
No. UnitedHealth Group policy expressly prohibits retaliating against employees who in
good faith report concerns or participate in an investigation of misconduct. In fact, if a
manager punishes you for making a good faith report, the manager would be subject to
disciplinary action. If you are concerned about retaliation, see the discussion about
making anonymous reports.
Although the company cannot guarantee that you will not be disciplined for your actions,
the company will take into consideration the fact that you are voluntarily reporting the
matter, which may lead to less severe disciplinary action, if any, especially if your actions
were done at a supervisor’s direction. Please keep in mind that the company can’t fix the
problem if it doesn’t know about it – so it is essential that you report it.
Can I call to just ask a question – like whether there is a company policy on a
specific issue, or how a policy applies?
Yes. The Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter is also intended to help you by providing
information and guidance. Typically, you should first contact your manager, your local
compliance officer, or the Legal Department. If you are uncomfortable doing so or are
dissatisfied with the response you have received, you should feel free to contact the
Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter.
UnitedHealth Group has contracted with a third-party vendor, EthicsPoint, to provide the
Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter. The vendor's call center staff is trained to ask
questions that will help provide UnitedHealth Group with the information the company
needs to investigate and resolve the issues you identify.
The vendor's staff will not be able to answer your questions or resolve any issues on your
initial call. They will prepare a Web-based report of the information you provide and
send it to UnitedHealth Group’s Ethics & Integrity Office. The Ethics & Integrity Office
will then provide the vendor with the company’s response. Fifteen business days after
you complete your report, contact the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter to see if the
company has any follow-up questions or if the matter has been resolved, to see the
company's response. When you initially report your concern or issue, you will be
assigned a report key and password. It is essential you remember the report key and
password since that is the only way you will be able to receive the company's response.
• If you do so, UnitedHealth Group will take all reasonable steps to preserve your
anonymity. Your call will not be recorded, and we will not know what number or
location you called from. Your online report is submitted through a secure Web
site protected by the latest encryption technology. But there are some limits you
should know about.
• People may be able to figure out that you made a complaint. As a matter of
fairness, UnitedHealth Group will ordinarily investigate a complaint before taking
action. If you are complaining that another employee is doing something wrong,
there is a good chance we will ask that person to address the complaint.
Obviously, people can sometimes guess at who made that complaint.
We will try to be open with you about how we are responding to your report. But for
confidentiality reasons, you should understand that we cannot always tell you all the steps
we have taken.
For UnitedHealth Group's procedure for responding to reports made through this Ethics
& Compliance HelpCenter, please review What happens after I report?
All allegations of misconduct are investigated. Every call or online report received
through the HelpCenter is sent to UnitedHealth Group’s Ethics & Integrity Office. Based
on the type of allegations, the Ethics & Integrity Office either resolves the matter or
forwards the case to the appropriate contact for investigation and resolution. Many of the
calls involve Human Resources issues and are forwarded to Employee Relations. Cases
also may be forwarded to local compliance officers, the Legal Department, or other
departments as appropriate.
Some investigations can be completed quickly; others may take several weeks. It all
depends upon the nature of the allegation and the necessary investigation. The size and
complexity of UnitedHealth Group can, at times, mean a complex and lengthy
investigation. The fact that an investigation is taking several weeks does not mean
UnitedHealth Group does not take the allegations seriously or is not aggressively
investigating the allegations.
In all cases, the Ethics & Integrity Office will provide a final response, which will be
available to you through the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter. If you elected to remain
anonymous, you will need to contact the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter and provide
your assigned case number to receive the company’s response.
If you identified yourself, you also may contact the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter to
receive the company’s response. In addition, the person who had primary responsibility
for investigating and addressing your concerns will usually advise you of the results.
If UnitedHealth Group determines that misconduct has occurred, the company will
usually notify you that the investigation is complete and appropriate action has been or
will be taken. Due to confidentiality and privacy concerns, you may not receive details of
findings from the investigation or actions taken, including any disciplinary action taken
against another employee for misconduct. The Ethics & Integrity Office may also ask you
to notify the company if you believe the problem continues after it was thought to be
resolved.
If you have questions about the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter or UnitedHealth
Group’s Ethics and Integrity Program, you can contact the HelpCenter or contact
UnitedHealth Group’s Ethics & Integrity Office, by e-mail at Ethics-
Integrity_Office@uhc.com, or by phone, at 952-936-7463.