Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna and Allina Health in Minneapolis inked a partnership to establish a jointly owned health plan as an option for employers and consumers in the Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., region.
The organizations anticipate the health plan — called Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company — will begin offering a number of commercial products in early 2018, with Medicare and other products to follow, pending regulatory approval.
According to an Allina Health news release, the health plan will streamline payer-provider interactions by combining data, coordinating integrated care teams and providing health insurance benefits and administrative services. The jointly owned plan aims to enhance health outcomes and cost management.
"Allina Health has been on a journey of transforming our patient care strategies to focus on outcomes rather than volume of services," Penny Wheeler, MD, president and CEO of Allina Health, said in a statement. "This partnership represents the opportunity to greatly accelerate our progress toward a care model where our success is more closely tied to our patient's health, rather than just the delivery of services."
The health plan will be a separate company from Allina and Aetna and will have its own leadership team, according to the release.