LOUISVILLE, KY – They had the name, and the technology came in increments. All they needed was the motivation.
Last month, officials at SHPS, the Louisville, Ky.-based provider of healthcare services for employers, government agencies and third-party administrators, put their “person-centric” healthcare philosophy to the test with the launch of the Carewise Health line. The integrated portfolio of clinical, financial and administrative solutions, combined with a new corporate Web site, is designed to give clients one platform from which to manage health plans.
Rishabh Mehrotra, SHPS’ president and CEO, describes the launch as “a start and a culmination.” On one hand, he said, it’s the latest stage of a “real technical journey” that has had company officials gradually compiling the data integration and clinical tools to make the portal work.
On the other hand, he said, it’s the beginning of a new approach to healthcare – a “new wave of integrated services for total population health management, financial incentives, benefits administration and communications across a plan sponsor’s entire health strategy.”
Hence the motivation.
“Carewise Health … will start delivering real change in the healthcare industry,” Mehrotra said. “We are giving employers a uniform, integrated approach to changing health behaviors.”
With the launch of Carewise Navigator in 2006 and subsequent rollouts of a health portal and wellness platform, SHPS sought to not only link spending accounts and benefit administration services, but to provide a “360-degree view of the person.” The integrated platform, Mehrotra said, allows businesses to generate individualized care plans and drive care management programs.
“You don’t need a generic network – you need a very specific network,” he said. For example, specific care management programs can help people better manage chronic conditions, an area where 20 percent of the people diagnosed with a chronic condition account for 70 percent of the costs.
“Everything we do at SHPS is centered in improving individual health, one person at a time,” said Chris Ryan, the company’s chief strategy and marketing officer.
Several of the company’s current products, including health management and portal products for large employers, carry the Carewise brand, which SHPS purchased in 2001. Select SHPS products will be rolled into the new Carewise portfolio, Mehrotra said, while the Landacorp brand, a four-year-old software product with its own established platform and client base, will remain as is.