By Leslie Small
Humana
Inc. on March 15 said that it will team up with a Seattle-based company called
Accolade to "create a differentiated healthcare and benefits experience
for consumers" by combining the insurer's capabilities with the startup's
data-driven member engagement platform. With the move, the traditionally
Medicare Advantage-focused Humana is signaling that it aims to capture more of
the group-insurance market.
Initially,
the Humana-Accolade solution will be offered to companies with 100 or more
employees in the Cincinnati, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wis., areas that self-fund
their medical plans. The two companies will combine Humana's self-funded
administration services and other health and wellness products with Accolade's
open-service technology member engagement platform, health assistants and care
teams, according to a Humana spokesperson.
"This
partnership allows us to come together to offer a differentiated model for
mid-market employers, for whom many health care solutions offered in the large
and jumbo self-funded employer markets have not been available," the
spokesperson said.
Indeed,
Humana's "lower presence in the commercial segment makes it possible to
come in with innovative approaches against larger commercially focused
peers," Leerink's Ana Gupte advised investors in a recent research note.
In general, employers are
seeking bette ways to help their workers navigate the complex health system,
says National Business Group on Health President and CEO Brian Marcotte. The
Humana-Accolade partnership, he adds, "is a reflection of employers that
are either carving out that concierge from their health plans, or they're
working with their health plans and complementing the health plan with more of
a full-service concierge."
From
Health Plan Weekly
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