Boeing partners with MemorialCare on customized health plan, ACO for California employees

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Aerospace giant Boeing has formed another accountable care organization to lower costs for the company and its employees, this time in California.

They have partnered with MemorialCare Health System on a customized health plan option for Boeing's 37,000 employees and their family members in southern California.

It is Boeing's first preferred partnership in the state, the company said.

In 2015, Boeing entered into separate and direct contracts with Providence-Swedish Health Alliance and UW Medicine to create a tailor-made health plan.

Boeing employees in California choosing the plan can visit MemorialCare Health Alliance in-network physicians for a lower premium and no copays, according to Boeing. The plan offers  decreased paycheck deductions for coverage; zero copays for office visits to in-network primary care physicians; 100 percent coverage for generic drug prescriptions; and no primary care physician referrals to specialists within the network.

[Also: Boeing grows health plan, adds health networks in Charleston, St. Louis]

Employees with high-deductible plans who get non-generic prescription drugs will have benefits apply when the deductible is met, Boeing said.

Other features are increased company contributions to a health savings account for eligible participants, quicker access to network primary care providers and specialists, additional after-hours care, more personalized and coordinated care, and greater use of electronic messaging with providers and access to medical records.

Emergency care will be covered at in-network levels, even if it is received outside the MemorialCare network, Boeing said.

The ACO health plan option applies to Boeing's 15,000 employees and 22,000 dependents in California, the company said.

Boeing will begin open enrollment this fall, with service beginning Jan. 1, 2017. 

[Also: Boeing's ACO-esque plans taking flight]

MemorialCare will be directly accountable for providing high-quality, coordinated health care services including convenient and timely patient appointments, reduced readmissions to hospitals; and manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Boeing selected MemorialCare based on the provider's reputation for high quality of care, broad geographic reach and the depth of  extensive physician, hospital and community outpatient center network, Boeing said.

"Every major initiative MemorialCare pursues is thoughtfully executed to prepare for transformative, value-based health care products for employers and health plans like the Boeing partnership," said Barry Arbuckle, Ph.D., MemorialCare Health System President and CEO.

MemorialCare has also partnered with other healthcare providers encompassing more than 2,400 primary care and specialty physicians and providers, nine hospitals and 71 community-based ambulatory surgery, medical imaging, urgent care and dialysis centers and dozens of other services.

"Because the majority of Boeing employees live throughout the greater Long Beach, South Bay and Orange County communities well served by MemorialCare and its partners, many are accustomed to and comfortable with the network's primary care and specialty physicians, hospitals, outpatient and community outreach programs," said Jeff White, Boeing's director of Health Care Strategy at Boeing.

Twitter: @SusanJMorse