Humana makes deal with Michigan hospitals to expand in-network offerings for MA members

Humana reached an agreement with the Michigan-based hospital network McLaren Health Care to expand in-network options for the insurer’s Medicare Advantage customers.

The agreement announced on Tuesday is the latest effort by Humana to attempt to expand in MA, a business that has grown for the insurance giant beyond expectations this year. McLaren is a network of 14 hospitals located in Michigan. Humana already contracted with six of the hospitals in the system to offer in-network options for MA and now has an agreement to add in-network access for eight more.

The contract also includes a value-based care deal with McLaren providers that emphasizes linking payments to doctors based on health outcomes rather than just on services.

RELATED: Here's how the top insurers performed in the second quarter of 2019

“Humana values the opportunity to work with a locally owned health system with more than a century of service, and a shared dedication to improving care quality and health outcomes," Humana Regional Medicare President Kathie Mancini said in a statement.

The push for a value-based agreement comes a few months after Humana convened a panel of healthcare experts to build a consensus definition of several terms such as value-based care and population health. However, the panel of experts couldn’t reach a consensus on the terms.

Humana has seen a growth in its MA business so far in 2019. The insurer is the second largest provider of MA plans behind UnitedHealthcare.

The insurer said in its first-quarter earnings call that Humana expects individual growth in MA to rise between 415,000 to 440,000 members, a 14% hike. The company said it has approximately 2.3 million individual MA members as of June 30.