What Are The Recent Top 4 Innovative Consolidations and Partnerships Among Health Payers?
August 26, 2020
Despite the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, health payers have still managed to initiate innovative consolidations and partnerships. According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), payers started out the year intending to bolster their payer identities by leveraging deals. As the impact of the pandemic becomes more manageable, several industry mergers and acquisitions have been announced:
OSCAR HEALTH LAUNCHES MA PLAN WITH ACADEMIC INSTITUTION, HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Oscar Health plans to plans to partner with Holy Cross Health and Memorial Healthcare System to launch a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan.
“With Oscar’s technology and our aligned dedication to providing an exceptional experience for Medicare beneficiaries, the Oscar + Holy Cross + Memorial Medicare Advantage plan offers our members a more personal care experience that better meets the unique needs of patients,” said Mario Schlosser, chief executive officer of Oscar Health.
AETNA AND CLEVELAND CLINIC FORM VALUE-BASED CARE, NARROW NETWORK PLAN
Aetna and Cleveland Clinic announced their new Aetna Whole Health partnership in early August. While this was not a merger or acquisition, it served a significant purpose for its region by creating a joint health plan.
“The product leverages Cleveland Clinic’s excellence in quality and outcomes, while integrating with Aetna’s Clinical Transformation team and reporting capabilities to close gaps in care,” Angie Meoli, senior vice president of network strategy and provider experience at Aetna, told HealthPayerIntelligence.
SENTARA HEALTHCARE AND CONE HEALTH MERGE VALUE-BASED CARE, INTEGRATED HEALTH SYSTEMS
Sentara Healthcare and Cone Health declared their intent to merge in mid-August. The two companies are separate, integrated healthcare systems that each have their own health plans related to them.
“Both health systems are strongly aligned and have a keen focus on expanding upon their successful value-based care models, increasing their robust integrated health insurance options, building innovative technology platforms to increase patient access points—both digitally and virtually, growing community impact to create meaningful change, and ultimately tackling the toughest challenges in healthcare,” the press release explained.
BLUE PLANS HIGHMARK AND HEALTHNOW CONSOLIDATE RESOURCES IN NEW YORK
Highmark and HealthNow’s consolidation is not a traditional healthcare merger or acquisition. Because it is occurring within the Blue Cross Blue Shield system, there will be no transaction and very little external change.
“The objectives driving this affiliation are focused on our shared desire for better health solutions for HealthNow members that can increase customer and clinician engagement, create better health outcomes, manage costs and improve affordability,” said David Holmberg, chairman of Highmark.
All of these partnerships and consolidations are subject to regulatory approval. Find out more here.
(Source: Kelsey Waddil, Health Payer Intel, August 26, 2020)