Among providers trying to get into the insurance game, some are starting off small at the local level, but in a big, growing market segment.
The University of North Carolina Health Care is launching a new Medicare Advantage HMO plan for seniors in Wake County, home to greater Raleigh, in tandem with a new population health management program.
Offering a network of 12 hospitals, two physicians practices and a speciality group, UNC Health Care's new HMO is trying to attract some of the 34,000 seniors on Medicare Advantage in Wake County from competitors such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield--and perhaps convince some of the other 110,000-plus seniors in the region to switch over from traditional Medicare.
The population health program, being deployed with help from the company Alignment Healthcare, is an attempt to ensure that that network delivers on its promise of integrated, well-coordinated care, argued Allen Daugird, MD, UNC Health Care's chief value officer and president of one of its physician groups, UNC Physicians Network.
"This program offers a new type of health plan that will improve patient outcomes, increase quality of care, and reduce costs by tapping into UNC Health Care's broad network of providers and depth of clinical expertise," said Daugird in a media release.
"By partnering with Alignment, community physicians, and insurance providers, we are creating a new model for care that will improve health care for Wake County seniors and provide peace of mind to families knowing their loved ones are receiving high quality care," Daugird said.
Irvine, California-based Alignment Healthcare is trying to meet the demand among health systems for managed care, clinical coordination and post-acute care management solutions and recently garnered a $125 million commitment from General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm.
UNC Health Care is one of a number of health systems having a go at the Medicare Advantage health plan business, as an experimental foray into sponsoring their own health plans generally.
Catholic Health Initiatives, the 93-hospital system based in Denver, is using a recently-acquired HMO in Arkansas to try to grow a portfolio of commercial and Medicare Advantage plans nationally, recently expanding in Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee.