UnitedHealthcare Invests $5 million in Morgan’s Wonderland to Promote Health and Employment Equity for Individuals With Disabilities

This funding will enable the new Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan's Wonderland to implement a Practice Without Pressure program and an Employment Support Center for individuals with disabilities

SAN ANTONIO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas today announced a $5 million investment in The Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland (The MAC), a new one-stop-facility offering medical and non-medical services for individuals with disabilities. With UnitedHealthcare’s investment, The MAC will offer an Employment Support Center and a Practice Without Pressure program as part of its integrated service approach to remove two socioeconomic barriers for people with special needs: access to health care and stable employment.

The Employment Support Center's goal is to increase sustainable inclusive employment. By offering a collaborative home for multiple agencies, including the Texas Workforce Commission, and community-based organizations, the Employment Support Center will provide education, counseling and coaching to help individuals with disabilities become and stay employed. The center will simultaneously assist employers with the hiring and retention of individuals with disabilities.

Additionally, this investment will allow The MAC to offer Practice Without Pressure (PWP), a methodology that enables individuals with disabilities to participate in their own health and personal care without restraint and with a reduced need for sedation. Working with the individuals, their caregivers and the clinicians, a PWP Practice Specialist helps desensitize the individual with a disability while humanizing services such as dental care, blood draws, OB-GYN services, or MRI/X-ray.

“This is a unique opportunity for UnitedHealthcare to help break two significant barriers to equity for people with disabilities — access to health care and stable employment — through a single partnership,” said Donald Langer, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas. “It is at the core of our mission to help people live healthier lives by giving them the support they need, and better care and employment outcomes are big components of that.”

According to the CDC, disability affects approximately 5.4 million, or nearly 1 in 4 (26%) people in Texas. People with disabilities experience specific health disparities and additional unique problems in accessing health care, and frequently report difficulty finding appropriately trained and willing providers.

“Individuals with disabilities often get very fragmented and uncoordinated health care, which causes many barriers to well-being,” said Allan Castro, CEO, The Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland. “Through this collaboration, we are helping ensure that special-needs individuals of all ages have a place where they can find the integrated medical and non-medical services that they need.”

This investment is part of UnitedHealthcare’s long-term commitment to eliminating health disparities and helping people live healthier lives. In Texas, UnitedHealthcare serves more than 4,430,000 people enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual, Medicare and Medicaid benefit plans, with a network of 988 hospitals, and over 114,000 physicians and other care providers statewide.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.5 million physicians and care professionals, and more than 6,700 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.

About The Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland

The MAC at Morgan’s Wonderland is a first, a one-of-a-kind, one-stop model for providing medical and non-medical services for individuals with special needs of all ages. Services will be provided by more than 30 community-based organizations and coordinated through MAC staff members, known as Navigators. Service delivery is designed to be comprehensive and to include medical, therapeutic, social, and community-based services by organizations aligned with the MAC Navigators. The navigation system is uniquely designed for The MAC to provide better outcomes and experiences for individuals with disabilities; it’s also uniquely designed to provide improved coordination and communication among the different providers. The MAC is located at 5210 Thousand Oaks Drive in Northeast San Antonio. For more information, visit www.MorgansWonderlandMAC.com.