CHI Health St. Elizabeth, CHI Health Nebraska Heart and UniNet, CHI’s network of health care providers, announced an expansion of their collaboration with Coventry Health Care, an insurer, that they say will offer people under the age of 65 access to the same quality of care and affordability offered to Medicare members.
The announcement adds to the competing plans of health care providers and insurers nationally and regionally in reducing costs and improving people’s health by focusing on patient results, coordination of care and following up, especially in cases of chronic illness.
Coventry spokesman Rohan Hutchings described it as focusing on “quality of care rather than quantity of care.”
Coventry, CHI Health hospitals and UniNet currently provide Medicare-eligible Coventry members with coordinated care in Nebraska. Beginning January 1, the new plan, called Carelink from Coventry, powered by CHI Health St. Elizabeth, will be available to individuals and employer groups in Lincoln and elsewhere in Nebraska.
A team of local UniNet medical professionals will focus on keeping each Coventry member healthy rather than just providing care when they are sick, the companies said.
This network “is a solution for what’s been plaguing the health care system for a long time,” said Dale Mackel, president of Coventry’s Nebraska operations, in a news release. “Now, consumers will be at the center of a health care system that promotes wellness, provides better care for chronic conditions and uses economic incentives to reward positive health outcomes.”
Hutchings said the partners have been working on the collaboration for some time. Recently, CHI and UniNet had a contractual falling out with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska over health care costs at Omaha hospitals. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the largest insurer in Nebraska. Coventry is one of the largest.
The collaborators say employers and individual members can expect:
- Access to more than 2,000 primary care physicians, specialists and advanced practice clinicians, and 28 hospitals within UniNet’s integrated network;
- Lower overall out-of-pocket costs for members who see providers that are part of UniNet’s network; and
- Improved health outcomes through a greater emphasis on preventive care, efforts to reduce hospital readmissions and post-care follow-up.
Date: September 10, 2014