Agreement opens the door to Eastern Pennsylvania for Humana
St. Luke’s and Humana Announce Accountable Care Agreement
<0> HumanaJeff Blunt, 513-826-7094orSt. Luke’s University Health NetworkKenneth Szydlow, 610-954-4946 </0>
(NYSE: HUM), the second largest Medicare Advantage plan provider in the country, announced that it has signed an Accountable Care agreement with to serve Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in Allentown/Bethlehem and surrounding areas.
The Accountable Care agreement with St. Luke’s allows Humana to offer competitive products here for the first time. Under the terms of the agreement, Humana will offer HMO and PPO plan designs featuring St. Luke’s six hospitals, physicians and affiliated facilities throughout Eastern Pennsylvania, and built around the new Accountable Care agreement.
Humana’s Accountable Care Continuum is a pay-for-value system focused on promoting evidence-based, high-quality care, which can lead to improved medical member outcomes, a better customer experience and lower costs. Humana’s newest Accountable Care relationship is designed to serve the needs of Humana Medicare Advantage members based in the Eastern Pennsylvania region.
“Humana is delighted to enter into an Accountable Care agreement with St. Luke’s,” said Humana Vice President for Pennsylvania Neil Steffens. “Through this value-based arrangement with St. Luke’s, we can help them deliver a better patient experience, where they are rewarded for improvements in patient outcomes, quality and cost.”
“We look forward to working with Humana as they expand their expertise to our service area,” said Francine Botek, Vice President for Finance. “St. Luke’s has six hospitals and 150 outpatient facilities located throughout eight counties in the greater Lehigh Valley service area. Our locations are well placed to provide Medicare Advantage recipients great access to services that they need. We have many care providers sensitive to the needs of seniors and a comprehensive array of services designed to meet senior’s needs not only during and after an acute illness, but proactively while they are still well.”
The new Humana-St. Luke’s Accountable Care agreement includes value-based incentives tied to performance improvement and is expected to bring better patient care coordination, more cost effective, quality care and a world-class patient experience to Humana members in the Eastern Pennsylvania region. The arrangement will offer more personalized care and a broad range of population management tools like predictive analytics, chronic care, disease management and wellness programs.
The value-based arrangement emphasizes quality outcomes with a focus on care coordination and leverages measures as defined by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). Those measures include diabetes care and treatment, breast cancer screenings, colorectal cancer screenings and high-risk medication management.
Humana has a 25-year Accountable Care relationship history with more than one million members that are cared for by 33,000 primary care physicians, in more than 900 Accountable Care relationships across 40 states and Puerto Rico.
St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, integrated Network based in northeast PA. SLUHN is comprised of six acute care hospitals. The tertiary hub, St. Luke’s University Hospital, is a teaching hospital based in Bethlehem, PA. Additional PA hospital campuses are located in Allentown, Quakertown, Coaldale and Easton, as well as a NJ-based campus in Philipsburg. The Network is comprised of over 1,400 physicians and provides outpatient services at over 150 locations. Additional information is available at .
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a leading health care company that offers a wide range of insurance products and health and wellness services that incorporate an integrated approach to lifelong well-being. By leveraging the strengths of its core businesses, Humana believes it can better explore opportunities for existing and emerging adjacencies in health care that can further enhance wellness opportunities for the millions of people across the nation with whom the company has relationships.
More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company’s web site at , including copies of: