• Online data show women who read their messages are 68 percent more likely to get a mammogram; screenings for cancer, cholesterol and high blood pressure on the rise

• Personal Health Messages offer personalized, customized health reminders via Web, phone and postal mail

MINNEAPOLIS--(Business Wire)--UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE:UNH) Personal Health Messages are encouraging more consumer-driven health (CDH) plan enrollees to get the recommended preventive screenings they need for early detection of cancer and other illnesses.

Sent electronically to an individual's www.myuhc.com account, the customized messages draw upon data from claims activity, age, gender, and nationally established evidence-based care guidelines, to deliver a personalized call to action encouraging preventive screenings that are relevant to that individual.

According to a review of the messages sent in 2006, enrollees in UnitedHealth Group's CDH plans who access their private, password-protected accounts via www.myuhc.com and open their customized Personal Health Messages are significantly more likely to receive clinically recommended screenings for breast and cervical cancer, high blood pressure and cholesterol.

For example, women who opened their messages were 68-percent more likely to get a mammogram and 63-percent more likely to get a cervical cancer screening. The study compares CDH plan participants who accessed their online health messages throughout 2006 with those who were sent messages but did not open them.

Also, enrollees approaching their 50th birthday received a special message reminding them of a series of recommended preventive tests for their age group. Data show that members who opened this message were:

• 82-percent more likely to get a cervical cancer screening;

• 31-percent more likely to get a cholesterol screening;

•  71-percent more likely to have an office visit in which their blood pressure is checked.