Safeway launches Safeway Health

WASHINGTON Safeway is looking to expand its health plan initiative with the introduction of additional incentive-based programs.

Safeway Health, a new subsidiary of the grocery chain, will provide an incentive plan that includes such features as “greater transparency of provider and drug pricing,” said Ken Shachmut, Safeway SVP and EVP of Safeway Health.“Existing healthcare players are not well equipped to deliver the Safeway results.”

Safeway Health will provide analytics, plan design or redesign assistance, Shachmut said during a keynote address in Washington at the Business Health Agenda 2010 sponsored by the National Business Group on Health. As compensation, Safeway Health receives 25% of the savings generated over a five-year period, according to a Business Insurance report.