September 14 -- ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Humana Cares, Humana Inc.'s (NYSE: HUM) complex care management division, will offer the potential to improve the quality of life for approximately 60,000 people in the United States who live with chronic disease and offer programs to address the medical and personal needs that materialize as a result.
Humana today announced its Humana Cares division, headquartered in St. Petersburg, is now hiring 270 additional associates in preparation for the January 2011 launch of its new program, Humana Cares Chronic Condition Management. The new associates will serve 60,000 Humana commercial health plan and Medicare Advantage members across the country suffering from chronic conditions, including congestive heart failure, obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease and complex diabetes.
In addition to touching the quality of life for so many, the additional 270 Humana Cares associates, to include telephonic managers, onsite field care managers and community health educators, will have a major economic impact on St. Petersburg and the surrounding Tampa Bay area. Humana Cares, which opened its doors in February 2009 with approximately 250 associates, expects to employ 780 associates by year-end.
"Humana Cares is fast becoming one of the premier health care employers in the Tampa Bay area," said St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce Chairman Sid Morgan, "and today's announcement that Humana Cares will hire another 270 professionals this fall provides a much-needed boost to St. Petersburg's business community and to the overall health of our bay area economy. The St. Petersburg Chamber applauds Humana Cares' strong and growing commitment to St. Petersburg."
"We're very pleased that Humana has chosen to significantly expand its national chronic care management division here in St. Petersburg and bring hundreds of new jobs to our community," said St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster. "It's a great credit to the depth and skills of our labor pool that Humana Cares is once more growing its workforce and its business in our city."
Humana Cares incorporates a holistic approach to helping those who live with chronic medical conditions, focusing not on a single disease but on the whole person.
"Today, in the United States, 38 percent of Medicare beneficiaries live with three or more chronic health conditions," said Humana Cares President Jean Bisio. "Our goal is always to keep members independent and safe in their homes. At Humana Cares, we don't manage a disease; we work side by side to help our members manage their health and improve their quality of life."
And for the more than 50,000 Humana members under its current active complex care management program, this holistic approach is working. Humana Cares members have experienced a 36 percent decline in hospital admissions and a 22 percent drop in emergency room visits.
Humana Cares teams work together to:
- Help members remain independent and safe in their homes
- Create one-step care for both medical and quality-of-life needs, such as making sure members have safety items installed in their homes and ensuring their transportation and prescription needs are met
- Provide education on self-care management, including preventive measures like teaching a diabetic to monitor and record daily blood sugar levels
- Place a variety of remote bio-metric monitoring devices in the member's home to provide education and peace of mind, and identify and treat events, such as escalating blood pressure, before they lead to emergency or inpatient admissions
- Assist members in navigating through a complicated health care system
- Put members in touch with community resources.
For more information about the new positions at Humana Cares or to apply online, please visit www.humana.com/resources/about/careers/.