Humana 2000 Annual Report Download - page 10

Our breakthrough moments as a company have occurred when we’ve
accurately gauged where our customers want to go, then made dramatic
shifts in our business to meet them when they get there.
We believe we’re at the threshold of such a moment.
Consumers want choices. They also want simplicity. They want to take
charge of their own health, and part of taking charge is understanding and
using their own new power. They are telling us that when they know about
the cost implications of their health-care decision-making, they care about
the information we can provide to help them make those decisions the
best they can be.
We’ve developed a new generation of products to respond uniquely to this
set of imperatives. Called Emphesys, this family of products represents digital
health benefits from the ground up. In partnership with EDS Corporation,
we are developing a new operating system side-by-side with the Emphesys
product portfolio. It’s a system designed to take full advantage of the
consumer-centric power of Internet technology. From sale to enrollment to
filing a claim to the multi-faceted transactions involved with managing a
member’s chronic disease, Emphesys is “online access” in the best sense of the
phrase: immediate, smooth, pleasant and effective. Reaction from physicians,
employers, brokers and consumers who have previewed these plans has been
enthusiastic. Emphesys products are scheduled to debut in two markets in
2001, with continued expansion in years to come.
At the same time we develop Emphesys, we’re continuing to innovate
within our traditional family of health plans. Our Humana PPO 2001 plan
and our Rx4 pharmacy benefit are two examples of many new options that
increase consumer choice in a cost-efficient context.
In an environment of health care inflation, along with the country’s
demand for a new health insurance model, the role of the Internet as a
data-delivery engine and Humana’s developing capacity to turn that data into
actionable health information, we are well-positioned to gain momentum as
a consumer-centric innovator.
MOMENTUM
It’s a product redesign race –
a transformational
sprint to a
new business
model.
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g a i n i n g . . .
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