Humana Responds to
Growing Patient Consumerism

Today’s patients have more choices than ever when it comes to choosing and using health care resources, and they are increasingly taking on the role of active, involved consumers. In response, Humana continues to offer innovative tools and products that are geared toward health care consumerism — encouraging patients to become better educated about their care and coverage and helping employers offer better choices.

One of the most successful is the HumanaAccess card, which allows members to pay for copayments and other out-of-pocket expenses from a Personal Care Account (PCA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) using any credit card swipe terminal that accepts Visa. When polled, 80 percent of families rated their experience using the HumanaAccess card as “favorable,” and 77 percent of health care providers ranked the HumanaAccess card “very good to excellent.”

Humana also offers a variety of disease management programs and Web tools on its Web site at www.humana.com. Online, members can register for MyHumana, where they can store information about their health records in a secure, private location. Additionally, they can compare hospitals to plan a surgery or other procedure; use financial decision-making tools; find answers about specific health conditions, such as diabetes or asthma; access libraries of information about drugs, natural remedies and health conditions; and register for special resources and online communities available to members who are pregnant, have certain heart conditions or have rare diseases.

Patients can educate themselves about their medications by accessing online drug information and interaction databases. From the Humana Drug List Search page, members can access a detailed drug interaction database, learn about generic drugs, locate participating pharmacies or review Humana’s Drug List.

Humana’s Savings Center Web page offers special member discounts for health-related services. Some of the offerings include savings for gyms, alternative wellness, smoking cessation and weight-control programs. Other opportunities include reductions on vision care and medications.

Employers also benefit from offerings like Humana’s Smart products, SmartSuite® and SmartSelect®. These plans make up Humana’s innovative strategy to involve employees in benefits selection so that employers can provide a greater selection of health plans for overall cost savings. Members can access Humana’s online tools, such as Plan Professor^sm, Internet Wizard, e-Enrollment Center, communication calendar and e-mail, to compare, select and manage coverage options.

Humana’s goal is to simplify the task of finding information on the Internet and to provide a reliable source of sound health information, which the company believes is the best way to empower patients and ease physicians’ burdens.

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