MinuteClinic, Humana expand partnership's focus on chronic illness management

WOONSOCKET, R.I. MinuteClinic and Humana are collaborating to expand member access to healthcare services focusing on such areas as management of routine illnesses, identifying and managing gaps in care and making a variety of screenings available to help identify risk factors for chronic illnesses.

In addition, in 2010, Humana will open a health clinic for its employees and their dependents at a Humana facility in downtown Louisville, Ky. The company-owned clinic will be managed and operated by MinuteClinic and LifeSynch, Humana's health and well-being subsidiary. The site will offer health screenings, on-site health coaching and integrated health and well-being services for clinic visitors through LifeSynch.

The new Humana-MinuteClinic programs will be fully connected and integrated with Humana's existing programs and will provide Humana members and employees expanded access to prevention and wellness services at the roughly 500 MinuteClinic locations nationwide. MinuteClinic has been an in-network healthcare provider for Humana members since 2006.

Humana members will be encouraged to visit MinuteClinic locations for health-screening services to help detect and manage such underlying chronic conditions as high blood pressure and diabetes. The services also include screenings such as blood pressure testing, cholesterol screenings and biometric screenings that include weight and body-mass index monitoring.Also, Humana members visiting MinuteClinic locations will be encouraged to take advantage of health coaching services available through Humana?s LifeSynch subsidiary.

To streamline communication of a patient's care, Humana and MinuteClinic will coordinate interfaces between electronic medical records systems. They will explore the development of new services in the market designed to further enhance member health and wellness.