UnitedHealthcare Appoints New Leaders with Extensive Hawaii Health Care Experience

UnitedHealthcare has appointed new leaders for its Hawaii operations to help strengthen its commitment to quality care for its nearly 40,000 Medicaid and Medicare members.

The following executives have more than 60 years’ combined experience in the health care industry, most of them in the state of Hawaii.

William Guptail, President – Prior to his promotion to president, Guptail served as chief operating officer for UnitedHealthcare in Hawaii focusing on the QExA Medicaid program. He has been with UnitedHealthcare for more than a decade in a variety of positions and has extensive experience in government programs and clinical and consumer health.

David Herndon, Chief Operating Officer – Herndon has extensive financial experience in health care, most recently as president and owner of Island Medical Supplies. He has worked previously as Ohana Health Plan’s CFO and earlier with UnitedHealthcare where he was responsible for Medicare pay for performance programs and physician contract modeling.

David Heywood, Vice President – Previously, Heywood developed UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare program in Hawaii and helped launch UnitedHealthcare’s QExA Medicaid program in 2009. He continues to lead UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare programs in Hawaii as well as business development, innovation and government and community relations. Heywood has worked in health care since the early 1980s and in Hawaii since 1990.

Dr. Fatima Phillips, Medical Director – Dr. Phillips joins UnitedHealthcare as its new Hawaii medical director. She was previously medical director of Bay Clinic Inc., overseeing six community clinics with 18,000 patients on the Big Island. Over the course of her career, she has served as medical director for several organizations including NASA, Boeing and General Motors.

"These leadership changes illustrate UnitedHealthcare’s depth of health care experience in Hawaii and commitment to delivering quality health care benefits despite the state’s recent Medicaid budget cuts,” said William Hagan, West Region president, UnitedHealthcare Community & State. "Our new and expanded local leadership team has extensive experience managing health care operations, especially in caring for economically disadvantaged, underserved and medically fragile populations.”

The leadership team is based in the company’s Honolulu office. In Hawaii, UnitedHealthcare serves 20,000 aged, blind and disabled Medicaid members and 19,000 Medicare members. UnitedHealthcare also provides health care benefits and services to 5,000 employer group plan participants. The company employs more than 135 people in Honolulu and throughout Kauai, Maui and the Big Island. All member and care provider service for UnitedHealthcare’s Hawaii Medicaid and Medicare programs is done locally.

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 and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.