University, health benefits company launch joint Health Services Research
Center
MIAMI, May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller
School of Medicine and Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) today announced the creation of
a joint Health Services Research Center that will devise new ways to prevent
disease and manage chronic illness.
The new center, on the University of Miami's medical campus, will be
devoted to innovative health services research involving a number of new
strategies to maintain health and improve the management of chronic illness.
The overriding goals of the collaboration are to keep individuals healthy
and reduce health care costs.
"This new research center will be one of the first to look at what happens
when you introduce a culture of wellness into your workforce," said Laurence
Gardner, M.D., chairman of the Department of Medicine and vice dean of the
Miller School of Medicine. "In a scientific way, how does encouraging
exercise, a healthy diet and weight loss have an impact on health care costs
and missed days of work? Those are just some of the outcomes we will be
studying."
The School of Medicine's new Wellness Center, set to open next year, will
play a unique role in the collaboration. For example, if an employee with
type 2 diabetes starts an exercise program at the center, researchers will be
able to measure the outcome of that intervention. They will be able to tell if
the exercise reduced blood sugar levels and the need for medications.
The unique collaboration will draw on clinical data from the School of
Medicine's records, and the information from claims and health benefits from
Humana. The company uses several techniques to keep its subscribers healthier,
including a Personal Nurse service to support members in becoming active and
engaged health care consumers. Nurses guide members to information and
resources and help them overcome common gaps in the health care system
Humana also uses new technology to make sure every subscriber keeps up to
date on physician-ordered screening tests. For example, an automated phone
system will call a female subscriber if she has gone more than one year
without filing a claim for a mammogram to remind her it's time for the test.
"Humana's sophistication in statistical analysis using things such as
physician visits, diagnosis codes and prescription records helps us produce
models for predicting illness," said Jonathan T. Lord, M.D., Humana senior
vice president and chief innovation officer. "This predictive modeling helps
us plan new innovations and technologies for more effective primary care
management, wellness and chronic care management programs."
Humana is the University of Miami's employee benefits provider and
provides its SmartSuite health benefits package to some 17,000 university
employees and their families.
About Humana
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation's
largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 7
million medical members located primarily in 15 states and Puerto Rico.
Humana offers a diversified portfolio of health insurance products and related
services - through traditional and consumer-choice plans - to employer groups,
government-sponsored plans, and individuals.
Over its 44-year history, Humana has consistently seized opportunities to
meet changing customer needs. Today, the company is a leader in consumer
engagement, providing guidance that leads to lower costs and a better health
plan experience throughout its diversified customer portfolio.
Humana is one of Florida's largest health benefits providers with more
than 350,000 commercial health plan members statewide, including more than
170,000 commercial members in South Florida.
Humana is also Florida's largest private Medicare provider, with nearly
240,000 Medicare members statewide, including more than 130,000 in South
Florida.
More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the
Investor Relations page of the company's web site at http://www.humana.com ,
including copies of:
- Annual report to stockholders;
- Securities and Exchange Commission filings;
- Most recent investor conference presentation;
- Quarterly earnings press releases;
- Audio archive of most recent earnings release conference call;
- Calendar of events (includes upcoming earnings conference call dates,
times, and access number, as well as planned interaction with
institutional investors);
- Corporate Governance Information.
SOURCE Humana Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.humana.com
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CONTACT:
Mitch Lubitz of Humana Inc., +1-813-287-6180,
or Cell, +1-813-732-0386, or mlubitz@humana.com ; or Jeanne Antol
Krull of UM, +1-305-243-4853, or jkrull@miami.edu
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