Health is Everyone’s Business

By Bruce Broussard

Americans spend in excess of $2.7 trillion on health care each year. This is roughly one of every six dollars spent in the U.S. economy. It’s estimated that approximately 20 percent of this spending is inefficient and therefore wasteful.

We’ve heard a lot recently about the challenges we face and the importance of “fixing” health care in the U.S. We recognize that people face challenges as they navigate complex and changing health care systems, and we are committed to helping our members and patients achieve better health.

As the head of one of the country’s largest health insurers, I want to share some observations about what we at Humana believe are important components to overcoming these challenges.

Quality health care starts with prevention

Humana takes a holistic approach to patient care. This means that we encourage engagement, positive behavior change, proactive clinical outreach and well-being throughout all aspects of care delivery, the patient experience, and communication between health care professionals and patients. Our primary goal is to help our members get – and stay – healthy. As the Affordable Care Act ushers in a new era of consumerism in health care, health care providers must focus individual attention on their patients, with emphasis on prevention and healthier lifestyles.

Within our plan offerings, we reward healthy behaviors through our HumanaVitality incentive program.  Members earn Vitality Points for things like obtaining preventive screenings, exercising, donating blood, or quitting smoking; and the points can be redeemed for real rewards. The program works: Humana employees who participated in HumanaVitality lowered their health claims costs by 15 percent over two years, and had 17 percent fewer work absences than employees who did not participate. HumanaVitality is fully integrated into our medical plans and is also available to more than 800,000 Humana Medicare Advantage, Humana Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan and Humana Medicare Supplement members.

Partnerships make a meaningful impact on health.

We all want to be healthy, but living a healthy lifestyle isn’t always easy. First and foremost, it requires knowledge of what actually constitutes a healthy lifestyle, and what we as individuals must do to maintain balance and well-being. But even when we are aware of the right choices, economic pressures, packed schedules, and the daily obstacles of life can sometimes make healthy options feel unattainable. We believe that helping communities develop and maintain healthy behaviors is key.

Many cases of heart disease, obesity and diabetes can be prevented, controlled or even reversed through behavior changes. Our Team Up 4 Health program, a pilot we launched with Microclinic International in our home state of Kentucky, operates under the simple notion that small behavior changes can add up to big improvements in health and well-being. Team Up 4 Health works to create a local system that empowers participants to influence each other and their community in adopting healthy behaviors that treat the whole person – not just chronic conditions. Team Up 4 Health’s success demonstrates that good health can be contagious.

And, because we believe that play is good for health — no matter what your age – we partnered withKaBOOM!, a nonprofit that aims to create safe and active play spaces, to build 50 multigenerational playgrounds across the U.S over the last three-plus years. These are places where children, parents, and grandparents get to have fun and get some exercise in a safe, playful environment.

Healthy people need a healthy planet

There is an intrinsic link between the health of our planet, our business and the services we provide. Climate change poses a serious challenge to our natural environment and impacts the health and well-being of our communities. Humana is an active participant inBusiness Roundtable’s Climate RESOLVE (Responsible Environmental Steps, Opportunities to Lead by Voluntary Efforts), which promotes voluntary actions to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and decrease the GHG intensity of the U.S. economy.

We are also taking meaningful steps to reduce our energy use and increase operational efficiencies, assess and apply best practices across our supply chain, and engage our 54,000 associates on sustainability at work and at home. One of Humana’s goals is to reduce annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by five percent from 2013’s baseline consumption across our portfolio of owned and leased properties under vendor management. We also aim to reduce by 40 percent the amount of waste sent to landfills at sites where Humana and its vendors manage waste and recycling services.

There is much to be done, but Humana will continue to be a partner in health to the people we serve as we navigate the changes to the U.S. health care system. We view this time of change as an invitation to explore new programs that support a holistic approach to well-being and align with our sustainability strategy. As we focus in 2014 and beyond on making health easier for people, we will help the people and communities we serve have better experiences with health care while also getting healthier.

To learn more about Humana’s CSR efforts, please visit our recently released 2012-2013 CSR Report. Our CSR platform – Healthy People, Healthy Planet, Healthy Performance – enables us to live our company values as we work to inspire health, rethink routine, and thrive together.

Image credit: KaBOOM!

Bruce D. Broussard is the President and CEO of Humana Inc. Under his leadership, Humana is dedicated to improving the health of the communities it serves by making it easy for people to achieve their best health. Humana’s corporate social responsibility platform, Healthy People, Healthy Planet and Healthy Performance, aims to reinforce the company’s values: Inspire Health, Cultivate Uniqueness, Rethink Routine, Pioneer Simplicity, and Thrive Together.