Humana has grown from a provider powerhouse in its early years into one of the largest Medicare Advantage payers in the country.
Here are 20 things to know about Humana:
Company Basics
1. Humana was founded as Extendicare in 1962 by attorneys David Jones Sr. and H. Wendell Cherry, who partnered to open a nursing home in Louisville, Ky. Through 1969, the company developed 50 nursing homes, developing Extendicare as one of the largest nursing home companies in the country.
2. In the 1970s, the company looked toward hospital ownership with an emphasis on large-scale management to compete with providers that were locally-owned. In 1974, the company changed its name to Humana.
3. Humana entered the insurance market after one of its Arizona hospitals lost a contract with a health maintenance organization. It would eventually go all-in on insurance in 1993 after shifting its hospital ownership business to another company, Galen Health Care.
4. Bruce Broussard, former McKesson Specialty/US Oncology CEO, leads Humana as its president and CEO. He joined the company in 2011.
5. The payer covers nearly 5 million individual Medicare Advantage members, 560,000 group Medicare Advantage members, 3.6 million Part D members and 909,000 state-based contract members.
6. Humana employed 49,600 workers as of the end of 2020, including 900 medical personnel.
Financial Reports
7. At the end of 2021, Humana reported $83.1 billion in revenue. However, the payer's profits dipped 27.1 percent year over year to $3.4 billion.
8. In the same report, the payer pledged to kickstart a $1 billion value creation initiative through 2022. The plan includes a review of strategic initiatives, streamlining workforces, reducing third-party spending, shoring up real estate investments, and shifting toward digital processes.
Medicare Advantage
9. Humana made headlines at the start of 2022 for nearly halving its outlook for 2022 Medicare Advantage enrollment. The payer anticipated adding between 325,000 and 375,000 new Medicare Advantage members in 2022, but cut the range down to between 150,000 and 200,000 new members.
10. The cuts were substantial, as Humana is one of the largest Medicare Advantage payers in the country. The payer covers nearly 5 million beneficiaries, as of the end of 2021.
11. In the wake of Humana's outlook cut, other payers investing in Medicare Advantage disagreed with the payer's market assessment. Anthem and UnitedHealth Group both said they saw the market as competitive, but fruitful.
12. The payer is slated to use the funds generated from its 2022 value creation initiative to double down on Medicare Advantage growth.
Recent Moves and Looking Ahead
13. Humana closed its acquisition of Kindred at Home in August 2021 by purchasing its unowned 60 percent stake in the company for $5.7 billion. The acquisition will merge the at-home care provider with Humana's payer-agnostic CenterWell brand.
14. The move made Humana the nation's largest at-home care provider, bringing in the 550,000 patients Kindred serves annually.
15. Over the past year, Humana has made a push to prioritize at-home care. The payer has forged an agreement with in-home medical provider DispatchHealth and agreed to acquire One Homecare Solutions.
16. Moving forward, Humana is positioned to invest in its usage of artificial intelligence. The payer has only recently been exploring artificial intelligence over the last few years, but has since joined other healthcare powerhouses in embracing and streamlining its use.
17. The payer is also continuing to invest in communities through its Bold Goal initiative — a program that seeks to address social needs and health determinants. Through the initiative, the company invested $25 million in affordable housing in September 2021.
Rankings and Ratings
18. Humana is ranked No. 41 on Fortune's U.S. 500 list and No. 110 on Fortune's global 500 list.
19. The payer was recognized as a top workplace by Computerworld, Just Capital and Forbes.
20. Humana has also been recognized for its sustainability efforts via the Dow Jones Sustainability International Index, S&P Global and RobecoSAM's 2020 Sustainability Yearbook, and the FTSE4Good Index.