Humana's Your Practice

HumanaBeginnings Dedicated
to Pregnant Humana Members

HumanaBeginnings, a program offered to pregnant commercially insured Humana members and to some self-funded groups that offer this benefit to their employees, is designed to augment the medical advice of physicians by providing emotional support to expectant mothers and supporting efforts to reduce premature births.

“HumanaBeginnings is not designed to replace the advice or care given by providers,” said Sandy Arpen, process manager for HumanaBeginnings. “The program nurses do not give medical advice — they provide guidance, support and education to the members.”

The success of this six-year-old program is demonstrated by the vast number of members who have been served by the program’s telephonic nurses.

“In December 2004, HumanaBeginnings reached an enrollment milestone by guiding, educating and supporting more than 80,000 pregnant members since the beginning of the year 2000,” said Debbie Moorhead, developer and program director. “Humana averages up to 35,000 births each year.”

Need for support
The following premature birth challenges contribute to the need for the HumanaBeginnings support program, according to Moorhead:

One out of eight babies born three or more weeks early
Low birth weight of less than 5.5 pounds
Over $15 billion spent in the United States in 2002 for preterm baby care
Extended length of time away from employment to care for a premature baby
One parent often needs to change full-time employment status to care for a premature child experiencing ongoing health care needs
Stress levels tend to increase when coping with premature birth and its lasting effects

“The primary objective of HumanaBeginnings is to educate and guide members to make the best choices to achieve a healthy pregnancy and best birth outcome for mother and baby,” Moorhead said.

Reducing prematurity is a major focus of the program, according to Arpen. Preterm birth factors include:

Advanced ages of mothers
Increase in rates of twins, triplets, etc
Increase in labor inductions
Increase in cesarean births
Advances in maternal-fetal medicine

Value-added services
Several improvements have been made since the program began. What used to be a system focused primarily on at-risk pregnancies has expanded to include preventive and low-risk care.

“Member responses show that women who are pregnant are motivated to have healthy pregnancies,” said Kim Ryan, process manager for HumanaBeginnings.

In addition to regular nurse guidance and support, program participants receive three complimentary newsletters, access to a special Web page and an interactive assessment on MyHumana, along with a pregnancy or newborn care book. Follow-up support and guidance is also offered to program participants, including those with postpartum depression.

The program also offers flexibility. “If an expectant mother works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., our nurses work with her to determine how many [pregnancy care] calls she would like to receive and at what time,” Moorhead said.

Anonymity is another advantage to having telephonic nurses readily available and working from home, according to Moorhead: “This gives us the ability to have absolute privacy in conversations and a quiet, relaxed environment.”

Currently, HumanaBeginnings serves members who have already conceived. Humana plans to broaden the program in 2005 to offer guidance and support to members who are considering pregnancy.

For more information about HumanaBeginnings, call Sandy Arpen, process manager, at (888) 847-9960, extension 3384, or e-mail sarpen@humana.com.