Highmark and WellSpan form partnership, say it will improve health care

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Highmark Blue Shield will be offering a new health insurance product for WellSpan Health patients as part of a recently announced strategic partnership.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark and York-based WellSpan announced on Thursday that they signed a letter of intent to better coordinate care for WellSpan patients with Highmark insurance.

The partnership is expected to result in a new health insurance product for Highmark called ChoiceBlue. The new insurance offering would be available to WellSpan patients in Adams, Franklin, northern Lancaster, Lebanon and York Counties.

The product would allow WellSpan physicians and clinicians to better coordinate their care for patients and plan members, the organizations said in a press release.

“We have worked closely and successfully with WellSpan for many years, and this is really a very good next step in our relationship to improve health care for patients throughout the region,” said Deborah Rice-Johnson, president of Highmark Inc. “With WellSpan, ChoiceBlue is a great option for customers and gives them access to high quality care.”

The partnership is expected to expand past the new insurance product. The companies said they will be looking at other forms of services such as tele-health services, bundled payment arrangements on certain procedures, value-based payment arrangements and using data and analytics to improve care.

“By partnering with organizations that provide health care coverage to patients we serve, we can deliver higher value to our friends and neighbors who turn to us for care,” said Dr. Roxanna Gapstur, president and CEO of WellSpan Health.

Highmark isn’t a stranger to forming partnerships with health care providers. In December 2017, the insurer announced that it would be entering a partnership with Penn State Health.

Through its partnership with the health care system, the two organizations announced they would invest $1 billion in improving health care services in Central Pennsylvania. The Penn State Health and Highmark partnership has taken the form of investments like a $25 million check that Highmark wrote for the Penn State Cancer Institute in April 2018.

Highmark’s relationship with WellSpan will differ from its partnership with Penn State Health in that the insurer will not have partial ownership of the system and neither organization will have seats on the board of the other, said Highmark spokesperson Leilyn Perri.