We’re happy to share that the University of Houston has partnered with Humana to create the Humana Integrated Health System Sciences Institute.
Officially launched Dec. 6 at a gathering in Houston, this is an innovative step upstream by two like-minded healthcare industry leaders to embrace value-based care. The project will unite the existing colleges of nursing, pharmacy, social work and optometry with the new college of medicine. The new University of Houston College of Medicine has a focus on graduating at least 50 percent of its class in primary care fields. The alliance of the schools of health emphasizes the importance of the integration of medical care. The school is scheduled to start its inaugural class in 2020. Humana has committed $15 million over 10 years in support of this institution.
This project supports the fundamental role of the primary care physician in value-based care. Supporting holistic medical care with a focus on quality outcomes and evidence-based medicine with a decrease in overall healthcare costs by involving the physicians in supervision of that process is the premise on which value-based care is built.
Addressing the treatment of social determinants of health such as food insecurity, social isolation and poverty is integral to the overall health and an important outcome determinant of the well-being of each patient. The University of Houston’s unique approach to interconnect the schools of health and begin the process of health education with a holistic view of the patient is foundational to the success of value-based care.
Roy Beveridge, M.D.
Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer