Humana acquiring Inclusa, expanding Medicaid services in Wisconsin
The insurer's strategy is to expand its geographic presence and the scope of services it can offer.
Photo: Raymond Gehman/Getty Images
Humana is set to acquire Wisconsin-based managed care organization Inclusa in an effort to expand its Medicaid presence in that state. Inclusa provides long-term care services and supports to approximately 16,600 older adults and adults with disabilities through the state's Family Care program.
As a Medicaid managed care organization, Inclusa works with about 6,000 service providers in roughly 40 service categories, and is contracted with the State of Wisconsin and permitted through the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance to provide Family Care services and supports in 68 of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
Such partnerships are not new to Inclusa, which has been partnering with local healthcare providers and community resources for the better part of 20 years. Its programs help eligible seniors and adults with disabilities live independently in their chosen communities.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
John Barger, Humana Medicaid president, said the insurer's strategy is to expand its geographic presence and the scope of services it can offer. This, he said, will be facilitated through Inclusa's long-term care services and those of its contracted providers under the Family Care program.
"We look forward to combining Inclusa's and Humana's expertise and capabilities to grow the Inclusa business and help even more people get the long-term care they need," said Barger.
The acquisition of Inclusa follows Humana's 2020 acquisition of Wisconsin healthcare company iCare. It will further increase the number of Medicaid recipients served by the insurer, which currently totals about one million members across five states – Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Humana was also recently awarded contracts in Ohio and Louisiana.
The closing of the transaction is subject to customary state regulatory filings as well as other customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
THE LARGER TREND
The acquisition move comes just weeks after Humana announced it would be simplifying its organizational structure and paring itself down into two main units – Insurance Services and CenterWell – while launching an executive search for president of insurance and enterprise services.
Executives said separating the company into the two units will encourage collaboration and accelerate the work being done to centralize and integrate operations.
Earlier this year, Humana added 14 states to its ongoing initiative to rebrand the home health division of Kindred at Home as CenterWell Home Health. KAH home health services have already begun transitioning to the CenterWell brand in a number of other states, with Phase 2 bringing the total up to 21 states overall.
The transition is part of a larger effort to fully integrate Kindred at Home's home health operations into Humana. Last August, Humana announced that it had completed the acquisition of Kindred at Home in order to reinforce its commitment to invest in home-based clinical solutions.
In January, Humana drastically reduced its Medicare Advantage enrollment estimates for the year due to a large number of terminations during the last enrollment period; the former projection of 325,000 to 375,000 new MA members has been slashed to 150,000 to 200,000 new members.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com
