More insurers are finding benefits in marketing new health plans with regional providers, as a way to leverage prominent brands, make networks more accessible and also create potential competitive threats.
In southern New Jersey, Independence Blue Cross's AmeriHealth New Jersey subsidiary is in the midst of expanding a collaborative strategy with Cooper University Health Care, extending a co-branded plan to the south Jersey coast in a partnership with local independent providers.
Originally called Cooper Advantage AmeriHealth, the plan was introduced last October in Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties for individuals and small employers, with a range of benefit tiers that attracted about 11,500 members in the first six months.
Now the plan is being renamed Community Advantage, available to individuals and small businesses on and off the public exchange, and being opened to coastal residents with the addition of the Shore Medical Center in Somers Point and Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May.
The two small community hospitals are not a part of Cooper, but the network design means residents of Atlantic and Cape May counties can subscribe to the plan to receive most healthcare locally and access Cooper's 540-bed Camden hospital and numerous specialists for advanced care.
The expansion is another sign of payer-provider collaboration in the evolving commercial insurance market, and a variety somewhat related to the provider-owned health plan, in this case drawing on the heft of a very large insurer, Independence Blue Cross.
The vehicle for the collaboration is AmeriHealth New Jersey, a subsidiary of IBC's AmeriHealth family of Medicaid and commercial health plans. AmeriHealth New Jersey covers about 320,000 New Jersey residents. Last year, Cooper purchased a 20 percent stake in AmeriHealth New Jersey, with the goal of designing health plans to "attract a wider patient base," as Cooper officials said.
The Community Advantage plans will be available in three tiers, have access to primary care and chronic condition management programs and get discounts on fitness memberships and other products under AmeriHealth New Jersey's "Commit2Wellness" program.
"The expansion of the program to include Shore Medical Center and Cape Regional Medical Center demonstrates our commitment to expand access to high-quality health services to a broader South Jersey community," said Adrienne Kirby, CEO of Cooper University Health Care. "By collaborating with Shore Medical Center and Cape Regional Medical Center, we can provide consumers with even more options for health care coverage."