Two accountable care networks spanning three health systems have landed contracts with one of the country's largest private employers, in a model that could leave traditional players behind.
When some 27,000 Boeing employees and retirees in greater Seattle make annual benefit decisions this fall, they'll have two more choices for comprehensive healthcare under the aviation giant's "preferred partnership option."
Swedish Health Services, the region's largest health system, and Providence Health & Services have launched the Providence-Swedish Health Alliance as one of those options. The other is the UW Medicine Accountable Care Network, from the University of Washington health system.
Amid global changes in the airline industry, problems with its new fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner and pressure to sustain its highest stock price wave ever, Boeing is trying to control costs, from the manufacturing supply chain to workforce healthcare.
Company officials say the preferred partnership option -- available to about one-third of its 81,000 Washington-based workforce -- will also offer employees better experiences and more affordability.
"For this initiative," said Boeing HR VP Alan May, "we chose Providence-Swedish and UW Medicine for several key reasons -- they are well respected, have a broad geographic reach, provide the full continuum of care and have demonstrated a commitment to transform how healthcare is delivered."
"The Puget Sound region has the advantage of having some of the best, most progressive providers and medical centers in the country," May said.
Depending on how many Boeing employees select the program, the company's move could spur a small business boom for the three health systems along with competing ACO networks.
UW Medicine's ACO, offering primary care medical homes, four medical centers and various network affiliates throughout western Washington, is pitching itself as the advanced, research-based health system, bringing "new approaches to prevention and treatment to the clinics and hospital rooms," as UW Medicine CEO Paul Ramsey, MD, said in a media release.
The Providence-Swedish Alliance, meanwhile, is marketing a range of new benefits for Boeing workers, including same-day or next-day appointments for urgent primary care or and acute care, online scheduling for primary care appointments and reviewing test results, and concierge telemedicine. Providence and Swedish are also nurturing a Medicare Shared Savings ACO approved late last year, serving 25,000 beneficiaries in western Washington.
Elsewhere for Boeing, in greater St. Louis, home to military and aerospace manufacturing operations, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois recently replaced UnitedHealthcare as a plan service administrator for nonunion employees along with staff in other regions.